Blog of law articles

Oy did I wake up pissed off this morning.

But then I read John Pacenti's tremendous column today and learned that former prosecutor Sean Cronin, who got into such hot water for his shockingly poor judgment during the Ali Shaygan trial before Judge Gold (now on appeal), is actually working on Gitmo cases!?!?!

Thanks John, now I feel a whole lot better.

Here's Senor Calli on this pickle of a predicament:

“I was surprised to learn that there would be an appeal of that order with a professed view from the Department of Justice in Washington to hold prosecutors accountable,” he said. “Judge Gold is one of the finest district court judges in the country. He went to great pains at the sanctions hearing to protect the due process rights of these prosecutors and law enforcement agents and gave them every opportunity to explain themselves.”

Calli said Gold, along with many federal jurists around the country, is concerned that prosecutors are not being held accountable by their department.

“I think whether it’s in Alaska or Florida or in Boston, you are seeing district judges police their own courtroom,” he said.

Ahh yes, accountability --a wonderful concept that should in all cases be applied strictly to others.

Angry commuter Joe DeMaria chimes in:

“Government seems to be blind to the message Judge Gold was sending,” DeMaria said. “I’m concerned when a senior government prosecutor seeking the position of U.S. attorney is being defensive about it. Whether it’s sanctionable or not, the conduct was not defensible.”

Defensive? Lack of accountability?

You want to talk defensive and unaccountable conduct, consider the Dark One's appearance on Fox News Sunday:

“We ask these people to do some very difficult things,” Mr. Cheney said. “They do so at the direction of the president.”

Interesting choice of words, "difficult."

In what sense is it "difficult" for the perpetrator to have to torture someone "at the direction of the President"?

Hmm, this reminds me of a discussion we had recently on Rump's blog.

You mean it's "difficult" for the torturer in that sometimes this person is called on by the state to be ruthless, to be cold-blooded, to be merciless in committing what some might from the outside view as cruel, inhumane or even immoral acts -- to compartmentalize and justify these actions because they are being done for the greater good, for the nation, for total Victory, and for Our Fearless Leader?

Nope, good thing modern Western Civilization has never encountered that impulse before.