Posted on Jun 4, 2019
When Politics, Prosecution Collide: Veteran Lawyer Calls Current State 'Disturbing'
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Public officials on the radar of law enforcement routinely level accusations of political bias against the men and women who investigate them. But President Trump and his allies in Congress are taking that approach to a new and even corrosive extreme, Weingarten now says.
"The jewel of the crown, no matter what you think about the history of America, has always been, at least for me, the criminal justice system and in particular the federal criminal justice system," he said.
"And the very idea that the system is infected by sensitive prosecutive decisions not made on the merits — that that is somehow catching hold in the populace when it's not true. It's profoundly disturbing."
"The jewel of the crown, no matter what you think about the history of America, has always been, at least for me, the criminal justice system and in particular the federal criminal justice system," he said.
"And the very idea that the system is infected by sensitive prosecutive decisions not made on the merits — that that is somehow catching hold in the populace when it's not true. It's profoundly disturbing."
When Politics, Prosecution Collide: Veteran Lawyer Calls Current State 'Disturbing'
Posted from npr.org
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Posted 5 y ago
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This obliquely leads back to how technology has changed how we perceive reality. I know I keep beating this drum, but I really think we need to understand its ramifications. The reason why these accusations against the Justice Department work is that most of us only listen to and interact with people who tell us what we want to hear and if you support a man under investigation what you want to hear is the investigation is done by a bunch of political hacks. This same problem with technology and how it allows us to intake information is also why recent Russian information warfare attacks are more effective than history would dictate they should be.
Not only has this eroded trust in the federal justice system, it has politicized the examination of the justice system for bias. Now any complaints about them, even legitimate ones, will be seen as being partisan. Trust in the institutions has been torn down and replaced with partisanship. This is likely going to take a long time to correct and is in my opinion one of the most harmful legacies of the Trump presidency.
Not only has this eroded trust in the federal justice system, it has politicized the examination of the justice system for bias. Now any complaints about them, even legitimate ones, will be seen as being partisan. Trust in the institutions has been torn down and replaced with partisanship. This is likely going to take a long time to correct and is in my opinion one of the most harmful legacies of the Trump presidency.
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I think it is crystal clear that there are real issues in this investigation for both sides. I want to see the whole episode exposed to the light of day and all of the perpetrators brought to account.
People can clutch their pearls at institutions being threatened, but the threat, if ignored, will fester and be used again.
People can clutch their pearls at institutions being threatened, but the threat, if ignored, will fester and be used again.
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The current state of politics, will prevent this from changing. Until we can return to a state of civil discourse, the two sides will bludgeon each other with whatever tools are available. Politically motivated investigations and prosecutions seem to be an especially effective way to gut a political foe.
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