Many people warned about Donald Trump’s pick, Jeff Beauregard Sessions III, to fill the role of U.S. Attorney General, the top cop in the land. Some of those warning against Sessions based their misgivings on Jeff Sessions past segregationist sympathies. Many other people cited his earlier rejection as being too racist to become a Federal judge
Recently I heard Sherrilyn Ifill, law professor and President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund talking about the threat to basic Civil Rights and democracy itself represented by Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General. It wasn’t the first time Sherrilyn Ifill (pdf) voiced her concerns about Voting Rights as one concern (video). Another concern was police brutality.(video)
What stood out for me most recently was Sherrilyn’s stated opinion on AG Jeff Sessions, who has declared in a memorandum sent out to various departments and attorney’s as a sort of blueprint on how he thinks law enforcement should work. That Jeff Sessions does not intend to uphold the law, specifically 42 U.S. Code § 14141: ‘Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute’ .
Iow’s when a police department has been found to have a “pattern & practice” of police brutality and other unlawful activities of misconduct in direct violation of the:
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C. § 14141,10 to conduct civil rights investigations of law enforcement agencies whose officers have a track record of using excessive force or engaging in unlawful policing practices.
..and is absolutely NOT as Jeff Sessions puts it: “a few bad apples”. Or Sessions claim that ‘consent decrees’ hurt the police. If there is a pattern of excessive force and other police misconduct, It is required by law that the US Department of Justice step in as they did in several cases, including Baltimore, where a ‘consent decree’ was then worked out between agencies
Here are Jeff Sessions words from his memorandum:
“It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies”
Jeff Sessions ideas about ignoring and delaying ‘consent decrees’ was rejected by U.S. judge James K, Bredar.
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Here are statements by Sherrilyn IfIll that get right to it: (April 8th, 2017)
"We feel like there is sufficient evidence that our clients and the residents of Baltimore and their right to be free of unconstitutional policing are not adequately represented by the DOJ",said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP-LDF.
Because the Baltimore decree has not yet been formally adopted, Sessions asked a federal judge to delay the legal proceedings surrounding its adoption for 90 days, presumably with the eventual aim of finding a way to scuttle it altogether.
In a city that became emblematic of police abuse, excessive force and callous treatment of young black men, Baltimore's mayor and commissioner say they are eager and ready to change not only the culture of law enforcement, but the practice.
"He has basically said that the federal government doesn't have any business in running local police departments, and by that I assume he means suing them under Section 14141",Yeomans said, referring to the Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute
Of the Justice Department's request for a continuance, Ifill said,
"I'm asking the citizens of Baltimore to have faith that we will continue this work, because we do think it's important and we do want to transform the police department and we do want to make sure we're operating at the highest level",
she said.
The DOJ began the investigation into the Baltimore PD after the in-custody death of Freddie Gray, which led to riots throughout the city.
"The closest thing I've seen to justice is this consent decree",
he said.
— emphasis added
Looks to me that US Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions III is trying to enforce his own “pattern & practice” of allowing police Departments with an established pattern of brutality & corruption to investigate themselves.
Jeff Sessions is now voicing his extra strong approval of the rule of law. It remains to be seen if the statute 42 U.S. Code § 14141 is one of those laws — imo — yes,... Sessions was forced to back down this time on his consent decree ‘delay action’..
..but who will hold the top cop in the land accountable if he decides to turn a blind eye to injustice that he believes the Federal position of US attorney General he now holds does not have the authority nor the obligation to uphold USC statutes and Civil Rights that are the law of the land (?)
The next question that comes to mind is; Voting Rights. Is that also something that is ‘best left’ for states to handle. How many other Civil Rights are part of this new approach (?). Or rather; is the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice soon to be a thing of the past in this new Trump/Sessions regime (?)