QUESTION: What’s your authorized opinion of former AG Barr and this choose in Florida? Barr appears to trash Trump with each breath he takes, and the media appears to emphasise that Trump appointed this choose, so she is biased over the entire grand jury subject. It will be nice to listen to your perspective.
Thanks
FG
ANSWER: Former AG Barr, I consider, is without doubt one of the Swamp creatures. I might not belief a single phrase he ever says he’s defending the Swamp. As for a authorized thoughts, he’s avoiding the very intent behind the Structure. As for this “Donald Trump-appointed choose” overseeing the legal case into his dealing with of labeled paperwork in Florida questioning particular counsel Jack Smith, she is right. If Smith tries to enchantment something with that regard, I might take this matter, shove it down his throat, and go to the Supreme Court docket ASAP.
All the Sixth Modification was constructed on this very sort of abuse of energy by the previous king. He would indict you in England after which arrest you in America, transport you to his chosen jury who was anti-America. You have been at all times discovered responsible for political functions. I might add that on the time of the American Revolution, there have been about 240 felonies, they usually all carried the loss of life penalty. It’s vital to have a look at each the fifth and sixth Amendments, and you’re going to get a way that what Smith is doing is circumventing the Structure by indicting Trump in Washington utilizing a pro-government jury. Nonetheless, he has to prosecute him in Florida underneath the sixth Modification.
Modification VI
In all legal prosecutions, the accused shall take pleasure in the precise to a speedy and public trial, by an neutral jury of the state and district whereby the crime shall have been dedicated, which district shall have been beforehand ascertained by regulation, and to learn of the character and explanation for the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses in opposition to him; to have obligatory course of for acquiring witnesses in his favor, and to have the help of counsel for his protection.
You can’t be prosecuted in California for a criminal offense in Florida or out of state. That’s the Venue clause to be tried the place the crime was dedicated, NOT essentially the most favorable place to win a conviction. What Smith is doing is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, and it’s treason. He’s doing what the king used to do solely as a result of the Sixth Modification doesn’t expressly state that the grand jury should even be the place the crime is dedicated. To this point, I’ve by no means heard of getting indicted in a single state and prosecuted in one other. The rationale additionally implies that, in lots of situations, state regulation additionally applies. The Erie Doctrine is a binding precept the place federal courts exercising variety jurisdiction apply federal procedural regulation of the Federal Guidelines of Civil Process however should additionally apply state substantive regulation.
To elucidate this precept, the Erie Doctrine stems from the landmark U.S. Supreme Court docket case, Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins 304 US 64 (1938). Then you will have the Guidelines Choice Act of 1789 (28 U.S.C. § 1652), which established the very basis for a way federal courts have been to operate underneath such a various jurisdiction offering that the “legal guidelines of the a number of states” apply in federal court docket. I fail to spot how one can indict somebody in a single state underneath the governing state legal guidelines after which prosecute somebody in one other. That may be like taking a California regulation saying it’s youngster abuse to not inform your youngster they could change their gender after which prosecute them in Texas, the place the regulation is exactly totally different utilizing a California indictment. This can be a intelligent scheme Smith has pulled off, and anybody who sees no downside with that is politically biased.
Modification V
No individual shall be held to reply for a capital or in any other case notorious crime, until on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, besides in instances arising within the land or naval forces, or within the militia when in precise service in time of warfare or public hazard; nor shall any individual be topic for a similar offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any legal case to be a witness in opposition to himself, nor be disadvantaged of life, liberty, or property, with out due technique of regulation; nor shall personal property be taken for public use, with out simply compensation.
Now allow us to flip to the Fifth Modification requiring a grand jury indictment. It doesn’t state one district v one other as a result of the Structure underneath Article III solely created the Supreme Court docket – NOT the distinct Courts. They’re all of the creation of Congress by statute, and Congress has no energy to close down the Supreme Court docket or actually to even regulate it. Due to this fact, the Grand Jury Clause didn’t think about a number of districts, for there have been none at the moment. The indictment was to be the place the crime was to be charged. Some other interpretation can be a constructive modification of the Structure which can’t be accomplished by any prosecutor and never even Congress with out the whole Modification Strategy of the states.
Procedural & Substantive Due Strategy of Legislation
No State shall make or implement any regulation which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of residents of america; nor shall any State deprive any individual of life, liberty, or property, with out due technique of regulation; nor deny to any individual inside its jurisdiction the equal safety of the legal guidelines.
That mentioned, Due Course of requires that the procedures by which legal guidelines are utilized have to be evenhanded. No particular person is to be subjected to the arbitrary train of presidency energy, which Smith has clearly accomplished. There is no such thing as a precedent for his actions. A elementary threshold subject in Due Course of is whether or not the federal government conduct being examined as legal determines whether or not the process is offensive to the idea of elementary equity. Smith has abused his energy, and if I have been on the Supreme Court docket, I must vote for dismissing the indictment with prejudice — which means that terminates the case due to his abuse of energy.
In U.S. v. Carolene Products, 304 U.S. 144 (1938), the Supreme Court docket indicated that substantive due course of would apply to: “rights enumerated in and derived from the primary Eight Amendments to the Structure, the precise to take part within the political course of, such because the rights of voting, affiliation, and free speech, and the rights of ‘discrete and insular minorities.’” Following Carolene Merchandise, the U.S. Supreme Court docket has decided that elementary rights protected by substantive due course of are these deeply rooted in U.S. historical past and custom, considered in mild of evolving social norms.
If I have been Trump’s attorneys, I might file a movement to dismiss based mostly on a Substantive Due Strategy of Legislation violation.
