'Equal Justice': The Politicization of Prosecution
Author: Marina Medvin
The Views of the Author are not necessarily the Views of Enigmose
As she announced felony charges against the McCloskeys, St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner noted something that most people missed: that she was elected to pursue "equal justice."
What exactly is "equal justice," and how is it distinguished from justice?
"Equal justice" is a term used by neoleftist politicians to alert their base of racial disparities in the criminal justice system, with the implication that "racial equity" must be actively pursued. It is most commonly used by Soros-sponsored wolves in prosecutors' clothing. It is a political movement to interject a race consideration component into the criminal justice system. There is even an Equal Justice Initiative organization, a Soros-sponsored group that advertises itself as "committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society."
But what does race and "ending mass incarceration" have to do with charging a White suburban couple, the McCloskeys? Why was the term "equal justice" relevant in this particular prosecution?
The answer lies in Kim Gardner's implementation of "equal justice" as a whole.
Consider this: Gardner refused to prosecute 80% of the arrests related to looting, property destruction, theft, and rioting during the BLM protests. This is consistent with her lackadaisical approach to the prosecution of serious crime since her election. Last year, she refused to prosecute more than 76% of felony arrests. Why not prosecute serious crime? Because Gardner is implementing "equal justice" as a type of racial justice reparation. But Gardner does not say it straight out; instead, she tells us that she is making these non-prosecution decisions because there was insufficient evidence to move forward with charges.
The insufficient evidence argument, however, does not hold water when you apply it to the McCloskeys. The McCloskey case does not have sufficient evidence for a clean-cut prosecution; a middle-aged couple in fear for their safety employed a sound self-defense tactic after an angry mob of trespassers broke into their private community and threatened to harm them and their dogs. And, they only exercised a show of weapons after they called the police and were denied protection. This isn't a cut-and-dry prosection in the least.
It's clear that Kim Gardner is not worried about the sufficiency of the evidence in her decision-making. Gardner is making her decisions on other factors, political and racial ones. Full Article @ TownHall
Will All District Attorneys Now Be Empowered to Investigate All Future Presidents?
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that presidents are exempted from certain laws that are applicable to the rest of us. They cannot be prosecuted while serving in office. That, too, is the law.
By Alan M. Dershowitz
It is a truism that no person is above the law, but under our Constitution certain office holders are exempt from certain laws. That does not place them above the law. That is the law. For example, members of Congress cannot be held criminally or civilly accountable for action taken (with few exceptions) while in, or on the way to and from, Congress. In other words, a Senator cannot be prosecuted while driving drunk to a Senate debate. The rest of us can be arrested for driving drunk to our jobs. Judges, too, have broad immunity for what they do and say on the bench. It should come a no surprise, therefore, that presidents are exempted from certain laws that are applicable to the rest of us. They cannot be prosecuted while serving in office. That, too, is the law. Read More
The Prosecution Never Rests
It’s a hard path to ending the politicization of indictments, investigations, and other legal tools.
By: Adam J. White
In our constitutional system of checks and balances, ambition counteracts ambition. But what happens when prosecutors are the most ambitious of all? Last month, Justice Samuel Alito raised this question in the opinion that he issued on the Supreme Court’s closing day of regular business this session, in the case of Trump v. Vance. A seven-justice majority had rejected President Trump’s claims of total immunity against subpoenas from Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance, and Justice Alito—himself a former federal prosecutor—warned that his colleagues were courting constitutional disaster:
I There are more than 2,300 local prosecutors and district attorneys in the country. Many local prosecutors are elected, and many prosecutors have ambitions for higher elected office. . . . If a sitting President is unpopular in a particular district—and that is a common condition—targeting the President may be an alluring and effective electoral strategy.
I Of course, there are many kinds of prosecutorial ambition. Some might be ambitious for lucrative law-firm partnership seats, or judicial appointments; others might simply like sending a message to criminals that they are the toughest guy on the block. And others—surely the vast majority—are simply ambitious to do the best possible job they can, using all the legal tools at their disposal.
I But here is the problem: there are many tools—and few practical limits upon their use. While a prosecutor can’t put a defendant in jail without a judge, or a jury, or the defendant’s own guilty plea, there remains much that he or she can do to secure such convictions or plea bargains, or at least to make the defendant feel the pain of the criminal process. Full Article @ City Journal
Railroading of Michael Flynn
By Eli Lake
For all of the former prosecutors and pundits appalled that Flynn, who confessed to lying to the FBI, is no longer being charged with that crime, where is their outrage at all of the lies told by his accusers?
Compare Flynn’s treatment to McCabe’s. Flynn was humiliated and bankrupted for allegedly lying to Pence and FBI agents over a phone call that advanced U.S. interests.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department inspector general found in 2018 that McCabe “knowingly provided false information” in three separate interviews during an investigation into self-serving leaks published by the Wall Street Journal about an aborted investigation into the Clinton Foundation in 2016. That report also found that McCabe admonished more junior FBI agents for the leaks that he himself had authorized. Today, McCabe is a contributor at CNN. His opinions are still taken seriously at places like the esteemed Lawfare website. He remains in the good graces of the Trump resistance. Full Article @ Commentary Magazine