A little over a week after a prosecutor in Georgia indicted former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election, Republicans said they will use a new law to remove her from office.
In May, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law that created a new commission of political appointees with the power to remove and discipline elected prosecutors over decisions or policies not to prosecute certain offenses. The law seeks to limit or restrict reform-minded prosecutors. In the case of Fulton County — which includes Atlanta — though, District Attorney Fani Willis is not even known as much of a reformer. Instead, Republican lawmakers set their sights on Willis for another reason: prosecuting the wrong person.
We already know from Pudding Rob’s actions in Florida that these kind of laws are going to be used to:
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Allow the executive or legislative branches to override the judiciary, thereby functionally eliminating the separation of powers
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Override democracy by removing duly elected officials at the sole discretion of one person (Florida), or by another unelected body (Georgia)
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Create a legal fiefdom where the executive or legislative branches can determine the outcome of judicial matters through sheer fiat by removing prosecutors who do not align with their intended outcomes, and then hand selecting those who do
Party of “Law and Order” my fucking ass…
That’s because “law and order” always meant “arrest black people”.
Now now, it’s more general than that. In between shooting black people, they also love to use their laws on other things they don’t like, such as other people’s abortions (not their own, mind you – that’s different), LGBT people, and immigrants (especially scary turban men).
Law and order is, and was always, just another tool in their arsenal to be used against their opponents. It has never been about fairness or justice to them.
That’s completely unfair.
They’re happy to indiscriminately arrest brown people too.
As well as LGBTQ people, and anyone else in the “out group”.
Don’t forget the poors.
Coincidentally, they also like to make sure black people are poor.
Coincidentally, they also like to make sure black people are poor.
I seriously don’t understand the folks who don’t get this.
First we had slaves.
Well, they say, US slavery ended with the civil war.
Even IF it were reasonable to say that slavery ended, and therefore the ripples it sent forward in time aren’t still being felt, there are two things that are true - One: We didn’t root out those who most staunchly refused to relinquish it and enact power structures to encourage equity going forward.
Well, they say, the confederate states were physically and economically destroyed by the end of the war.
And to that I say, “Andrew Johnson.”
Two: We as a nation enacted laws and social norms that turned black folks into a permanent underclass, and have been dogwhistling about it for a century.
Well, they say, No we didn’t.
Yes, we did. Jim Crow, separate but equal, the origin of most controversial confederate monuments and statues, the very existence of Sundown Towns, and The Negro Motorist’s Green Book, the foundation of the State of Oregon, and events such as the Tulsa race massacre, are all factual details about our country.
These inflection points on our nation’s psyche persisted at least through the passage of the civil rights act, and some feel Sundown Towns exist even today. These laws and social norms influenced legislative policy, police and justice department culture, and generations of Americans both white and black people.
How one can acknowledge all that and not be impressed at the degree to which African-Americans have succeeded, and also humbled by how they have been wronged, held back, and live to this day in a system founded on excluding them is beyond me. But more importantly than that, to deny that there is still an impact seems willfully ignorant.
Sorry for the rant. I didn’t set out to write it, but there it is.
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