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Judge slams the Justice Department as he ‘reluctantly’ dismisses final January 6 riot case (www.cnn.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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“This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his order dismissing cases against nine people in which he recounted the events of that day. “That book is now closed.”

“Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy — the peaceful transfer of presidential power – to buckle,” Mehta wrote. “The court cannot write a different ending.”

“The government thus asks to absolve these Defendants of crimes against the United States itself,” Mehta wrote. “In this court’s view, that is not in the public interest.”

“But that alone is not a valid basis to deny the motion,” he wrote, adding that “the court must give way to the primacy of the Executive Branch in making charging decisions.”

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[–] 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

A big problem with our system is that when laws are bent or broken by the right; the liberal response is to "follow the rules" but condemn. The office and powers of the president are being respected despite the fact that he is an openly corrupt criminal using the position for his own personal benefit.

The hope is that by "maintaining order" the system will self repair. But I think we're past the point that any reasonable person should believe that will happen. If you disagree, engage in a thought experiment with me. Image we "maintain order and follow the rules" and our next president is AOC. AOC decides to use the same powers of the presidency to

  • Arrest and prosecute the crimes of Trump and his administration
  • Arrest and prosecute those that were connected to Epstein
  • Arrest CEOs that profited from mass social murders related to healthcare and environmental destruction.

Assume she does nothing more "outside the rules" than Trump does now. Will the Republicans in Congress or the Supreme Court sit back and "follow the rules" but condemn? I think we all know the answer to that.

There is no reason to maintain this charade of a democratic process right now. That needs to be seized back. But no judge or politician is singly willing to standup and risk being removed or imprisoned. This is because they know, that the Democrats will side with the Republicans in order to maintain "order".

So, we have a system that doesn't work to prosecute Republicans that break the rules; and at the same time, have one that still functions to prosecute anyone that attempts to resist the rule breaking. If this judge decided he's not going to honor the powers of the president, he would be removed. And he would be removed in a bipartisan way too.

The system is only functioning to make sure anyone that resists the fascist is removed. And the Democratic parties obsession with "following process" is allowing and empowering it.

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