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Lawless Democrats: 42 prosecutors refuse to enforce state laws restricting abortion
Jun 13, 2019 07:00:29   #
ACP45 Loc: Rhode Island
 
This is the headline in this article: https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/lawless-democrats-42-prosecutors-refuse-to-enforce-state-laws-restricting-abortion

There are a number of points in this article that are worth discussing.

First of all, there is the issue of abortion. Most people have very strong opinions on this issue one way or another. But for purposes of this article, let's put that aside for a moment, and consider the following issues.

As posted in the article, "It is said that for a democracy or republic to work, there must the rule of law. If you disagree with a law, you don’t just refuse to follow it but work within the system to change the law."

I think most people would agree with that statement, correct?

The article goes on to accuse Democratic elites of being particularly guilty of violating this principle, and states the following, "We hoi polloi, whom elites sneeringly dismiss as the “great unwashed,” who refuse to abide by the rule of law are punished. But this is not the case in America today where Democrat elites “do as they will” and blithely ignore or outright violate duly-made laws — with impunity.

An example are “sanctury” cities, counties and states. These are Democrat-governed jurisdictions that ignore, defy and violate the federal government’s immigration laws by providing “sanctuary” to illegal aliens with policies, laws, executive orders, or regulations allowing, and in some cases requiring, local law enforcement to avoid cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement authorities, as in deporting criminal illegals."

Another issue that comes to my mind is the Hillary Clinton email/server scandal, but I digress.

The article then proceeds to it's primary purpose of criticizing prosecutors for selectively choosing not to enforce state anti-abortion laws.

"The latest example of lawless Democrats are 42 elected prosecutors — state attorney generals and district attorneys — who have signed a statement of refusal to enforce state laws restricting abortion, referring to the recent passage of anti-abortion laws in Alabama, Missouri and Georgia.

To impress on you the significance of their refusal to enforce those laws, note that:

The attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states or territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state’s chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

A district attorney (DA) is the chief prosecutor for a local government area, typically a county. The exact name of the office varies by state. Except in the smallest counties, a district attorney leads a staff of prosecutors, who are most commonly known as deputy district attorneys (DDAs). The majority of prosecutions will be delegated to DDAs, with the district attorney prosecuting the most important cases and having overall responsibility for their agency and its work."

The 42 prosecutors’ in question issued the following “Joint Statement from Elected Prosecutors“ in June which states the following:

"Several states have recently passed, or are considering the passage of, broad restrictions on abortion…leaving open the potential for criminalizing patients, medical professionals, healthcare providers, and possibly others who assist in these medical procedures….

As elected prosecutors, we took an oath to uphold both the U.S.Constitution and the Constitutions of our individual states. Our U.S. Supreme Court,i n deciding Roe v. Wade, determined that every woman has a fundamental right to privacy which is “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”4 As some elected prosecutors have noted, the broad restrictions in the laws passed by these states appear to be unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade….

[N]ot all of us are in states where women’s rights are threatened by statutes criminalizing abortion. What brings us together is our view that as prosecutors we should not and will not criminalize healthcare decisions such as these –and we believe it is our obligation as elected prosecutors charged with protecting the health and safety of allmembers of our community to make our views clear.

Prosecutors are entrusted with immense discretion…. In our view, resources are better utilized to prevent and address serious crimes that impact our community rather than enforcing laws such as these that divide our community, create untenable choices for women and healthcare providers, and erode trust in the justice system….

In sum, as elected prosecutors with charging discretion, we choose not to prosecute individuals pursuant to these deeply concerning laws. Legal precedent, as established by the highest court in the land, has held for nearly 50 years that women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion. Enforcement of laws that criminalize healthcare decisions would shatter that precedent….

The 42 elected prosecutors consist of 11 attorney generals and 31 district attorneys, also known in some states as city attorney, prosecuting attorney or state’s attorney." The article then goes on to list the various Attorney Generals and District Attorneys.

I have some degree of sympathy for their argument of prosecutorial discretion.

The primary issue for discussion here is the argument for enforcing existing law, vs. the prosecutorial discretion of the prosecutor.

But, doesn't expansion of "prosecutorial discretion" open the door to selective enforcement of "gun laws", "drug laws", and other numerous controversial issues that split public opinion.

I don't think there is any easy answers here, but I would love to hear how you come down on these issues.

Reply
Jun 13, 2019 09:33:40   #
vernon
 
ACP45 wrote:
This is the headline in this article: https://fellowshipoftheminds.com/lawless-democrats-42-prosecutors-refuse-to-enforce-state-laws-restricting-abortion

There are a number of points in this article that are worth discussing.

First of all, there is the issue of abortion. Most people have very strong opinions on this issue one way or another. But for purposes of this article, let's put that aside for a moment, and consider the following issues.

As posted in the article, "It is said that for a democracy or republic to work, there must the rule of law. If you disagree with a law, you don’t just refuse to follow it but work within the system to change the law."

I think most people would agree with that statement, correct?

The article goes on to accuse Democratic elites of being particularly guilty of violating this principle, and states the following, "We hoi polloi, whom elites sneeringly dismiss as the “great unwashed,” who refuse to abide by the rule of law are punished. But this is not the case in America today where Democrat elites “do as they will” and blithely ignore or outright violate duly-made laws — with impunity.

An example are “sanctury” cities, counties and states. These are Democrat-governed jurisdictions that ignore, defy and violate the federal government’s immigration laws by providing “sanctuary” to illegal aliens with policies, laws, executive orders, or regulations allowing, and in some cases requiring, local law enforcement to avoid cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement authorities, as in deporting criminal illegals."

Another issue that comes to my mind is the Hillary Clinton email/server scandal, but I digress.

The article then proceeds to it's primary purpose of criticizing prosecutors for selectively choosing not to enforce state anti-abortion laws.

"The latest example of lawless Democrats are 42 elected prosecutors — state attorney generals and district attorneys — who have signed a statement of refusal to enforce state laws restricting abortion, referring to the recent passage of anti-abortion laws in Alabama, Missouri and Georgia.

To impress on you the significance of their refusal to enforce those laws, note that:

The attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states or territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state’s chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the U.S. Department of Justice.

A district attorney (DA) is the chief prosecutor for a local government area, typically a county. The exact name of the office varies by state. Except in the smallest counties, a district attorney leads a staff of prosecutors, who are most commonly known as deputy district attorneys (DDAs). The majority of prosecutions will be delegated to DDAs, with the district attorney prosecuting the most important cases and having overall responsibility for their agency and its work."

The 42 prosecutors’ in question issued the following “Joint Statement from Elected Prosecutors“ in June which states the following:

"Several states have recently passed, or are considering the passage of, broad restrictions on abortion…leaving open the potential for criminalizing patients, medical professionals, healthcare providers, and possibly others who assist in these medical procedures….

As elected prosecutors, we took an oath to uphold both the U.S.Constitution and the Constitutions of our individual states. Our U.S. Supreme Court,i n deciding Roe v. Wade, determined that every woman has a fundamental right to privacy which is “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”4 As some elected prosecutors have noted, the broad restrictions in the laws passed by these states appear to be unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade….

[N]ot all of us are in states where women’s rights are threatened by statutes criminalizing abortion. What brings us together is our view that as prosecutors we should not and will not criminalize healthcare decisions such as these –and we believe it is our obligation as elected prosecutors charged with protecting the health and safety of allmembers of our community to make our views clear.

Prosecutors are entrusted with immense discretion…. In our view, resources are better utilized to prevent and address serious crimes that impact our community rather than enforcing laws such as these that divide our community, create untenable choices for women and healthcare providers, and erode trust in the justice system….

In sum, as elected prosecutors with charging discretion, we choose not to prosecute individuals pursuant to these deeply concerning laws. Legal precedent, as established by the highest court in the land, has held for nearly 50 years that women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion. Enforcement of laws that criminalize healthcare decisions would shatter that precedent….

The 42 elected prosecutors consist of 11 attorney generals and 31 district attorneys, also known in some states as city attorney, prosecuting attorney or state’s attorney." The article then goes on to list the various Attorney Generals and District Attorneys.

I have some degree of sympathy for their argument of prosecutorial discretion.

The primary issue for discussion here is the argument for enforcing existing law, vs. the prosecutorial discretion of the prosecutor.

But, doesn't expansion of "prosecutorial discretion" open the door to selective enforcement of "gun laws", "drug laws", and other numerous controversial issues that split public opinion.

I don't think there is any easy answers here, but I would love to hear how you come down on these issues.
This is the headline in this article: https://fell... (show quote)



Is this malfeasance?This is going on all over the country and going on from Virginia to Oregon.

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