Let there be no more doubt that prosecutors really ought to be the ones who are subjected to the utmost scrutiny in our legal system:
Cases like this serve as high markers for how dangerous prosecutors can really be. They're the link in the legal system that are typically forgotten. We hear all about rogue judges and cops, but not nearly enough about rogue prosecutors who come up with these insane legal arguments just to expand their own power. Short of a prosecutor behaving like Nifong in the Duke Lacrosse case, they rarely get called out to explain their actions and be held accountable for them. If civil liberties groups want to do more good, it would be better to stop focusing on the police, and start focusing on holding accountable this country's prosecutors because they've been able to operate with impunity for too long.
Imagine a fellow who lives in a dry county in Mississippi (where alcohol is not sold or served) goes to a friend´s bar in New York and has a drink. Shortly thereafter, the bartender visits his friend in that dry county in Mississippi. The local sheriff arrests both the bartender and his friend for an act committed in New York.The federal government under the Bush Administration has made this country increasing inhospitable to foreigners who want to visit or do business here because it is getting more and more dangerous for foreigners to come here. We should have learned our lesson when the federal government arrested executives from a British gambling company because they didn't stop Americans from using their online gambling services. Such actions show absolutely not one iota of respect for the sovereignty of other nations, such as Britain and Switzerland, and it's only a matter of time before other countries begin to do this in earnest to our citizens in retaliation.
Most people, quite properly so, would argue the Mississippi sheriff has no business arresting people for a legal act committed in New York, even though it would have been illegal if committed in Mississippi.
Unfortunately, some prosecutors in the U.S. federal government are now acting like the rogue Mississippi sheriff described above when it comes to gambling, securities and tax laws in foreign countries.
Cases like this serve as high markers for how dangerous prosecutors can really be. They're the link in the legal system that are typically forgotten. We hear all about rogue judges and cops, but not nearly enough about rogue prosecutors who come up with these insane legal arguments just to expand their own power. Short of a prosecutor behaving like Nifong in the Duke Lacrosse case, they rarely get called out to explain their actions and be held accountable for them. If civil liberties groups want to do more good, it would be better to stop focusing on the police, and start focusing on holding accountable this country's prosecutors because they've been able to operate with impunity for too long.
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