Biden’s team has defended some of the protections the Trump administration put in place to conceal Trump’s financial interests, including documents related to the Trump International Hotel.
We’ve known for a while that U.S. federal antiterrorism law has a large gap: While it has a panoply of penalties attached to the international form of terrorism, domestic terrorism is not a federal crime. Now the Biden administration is considering resolving the matter by having Congress fill the gap but there are ample and important questions about whether it should even try.
A senior official in Biden’s Justice Department told a House hearing this week that it is “actively considering” whether it should pass such legislation a question made particularly acute by the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Yet while the Democrats’ approach is manifestly more responsible than Republican denialism, obstruction, and obfuscation in dealing with the matter, passing such legislation remains fraught primarily because despite the omission, federal and local law enforcement has more than adequate ability to prosecute domestic terrorism with laws already on the books, while a n
POLITICO
Leniency for defendants in Portland clashes could affect Capitol riot cases
After President Joe Biden’s inauguration, federal prosecutors agreed to probation deals for charges related to last summer’s unrest in Oregon.
Portland police are seen in riot gear during a standoff with protesters in Portland, Ore., on Aug. 16, 2020. | Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
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Federal prosecutors’ show of leniency for some defendants charged in the long-running unrest in the streets of Portland could have an impact on similar criminal cases stemming from the Capitol riot, lawyers say.
In recent weeks, prosecutors have approved deals in at least half a dozen federal felony cases arising from clashes between protesters and law enforcement in Oregon last summer. The arrangements known as deferred resolution agreements will leave the defendants with a clean criminal record if they stay out of trouble for a period of time and complete a modest amount of community service,
Since June 28, 2004
April 14, 2021
Noting the importance of charging policies and practices (and consistency?) as federal rioting charges get resolved from coast-to-coast
A few weeks ago, as blogged here,
Politico spotlighted some case processing realities surrounding the on-going federal prosecutions of persons involved in the insurrection on January 6, 2021. That lengthy piece highlighted reasons why it could turn out, in the words of the headline, that Many Capitol rioters [are] unlikely to serve jail time.
Politico now has this additional interesting piece on the same beat headlined Leniency for defendants in Portland clashes could affect Capitol riot cases. I also recommend this piece in full, in part because the piece showcases how differing charging policies and practices both at the national level and in individual districts can lead to differing case outcomes:
American policymakers face a real conundrum when it comes to tackling the spread of right-wing extremism and its attendant terroristic violence, a problem that became self-evident amid the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and its aftermath: How can law enforcement effectively curtail the illegal activities of right-wing extremists when so many officers are themselves participants in these movements?
The answer which is that it cannot suggests that effectively confronting far-right extremism must begin with police reform, and particularly the task of weeding extremists out of our police forces. The public cannot expect agencies tasked with enforcing the laws that prohibit extremist violence to do so seriously when those same extremists permeate their ranks.