Politico Comes Out For States’ Rights
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 5 months ago
For decades, criminal justice experts have debated the wisdom of “broken windows” policing — but no one ever proposed bringing in the FBI to do it.
Until now.
As part of a Justice Department-led drive to crack down on violence growing out of protests spurred by George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police, the federal government is prosecuting more than 70 people for alleged behavior that runs the gamut from mere vandalism, to inciting looting through Facebook Live posts, to arson, and, in one case, murder.
While some of the cases are unquestionably grave, others seem less so, and have raised questions about whether the federal government is stretching its authority to satisfy President Donald Trump’s desire to see a forceful federal intervention in the protests.
Two cases, for instance, involve individuals facing federal felony charges for breaking police car windows, relying on federal statutes not often applied in such instances. In another case, federal authorities charged a man with possession of a Molotov cocktail, arguing that because he had used an imported bottle of Patron Citronge Pineapple Tequila to make the incendiary device, the case fell under the federal government’s regulation of foreign commerce.
Critics say the use of federal courts, prosecutors and the FBI to target crimes stemming from the recent protests is largely unnecessary and is at odds with the Constitution’s limited role for the federal government and federal law enforcement.
How cute.
Critics say that, do they? When have critics on the left ever advocated for smaller federal government? When Obama abused his authority for the Chrysler bailout? Or maybe for Obamacare implementation? Or perhaps all of that political profiling by the IRS? If not, maybe DACA, which is an unconstitutional sham?
Or maybe it was that thing called Fast & Furious, where the administration forced FFLs to sell across the border into Mexico in order to make more U.S. weapons end up in gang violence, with the desire that a chorus of demands for increased gun control would ensue?
Now that Politico has “seen the light,” should we expect them to come to our aid and start publishing editorials demanding the repeal of the National Firearms Act?
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