CIVICS: “IN RECENT YEARS, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS SOMETIMES ACTED MORE LIKE A TRADE ASSOCIATION FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTORS THAN THE ADMINISTRATOR OF A FAIR SYSTEM OF JUSTICE BASED ON CLEAR AND SENSIBLE LEGAL RULES.”

Ann Althouse:

“In case after case, we have advanced and defended hyper-aggressive extensions of the criminal law. This is wrong and we must stop doing it…. We should want a fair system with clear rules that the people can understand. It does not serve the ends of justice to advocate for fuzzy and manipulable criminal prohibitions that maximize our options as prosecutors…. Advocating for clear and defined prohibitions will sometimes mean we cannot bring charges against someone whom we believe engaged in questionable conduct. But that is what it means to have a government of laws and not of men…. If criminal statutes are endlessly manipulable, then everything becomes a potential crime. Rather than watch policy experts debate the merits or demerits of a particular policy choice, we are nowadays treated to ad na[u]seum speculation by legal pundits — often former prosecutors themselves — that some action by the President, a senior official, or a member of congress constitutes a federal felony under this or that vague federal criminal statute. This criminalization of politics is not healthy.