OUR JUSTICE DEPARTMENTS' MANDATE

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: 475

I know I have written about this several times before in this series, but I keep hearing stories about police officers and prosecutors who are thought to be acting for political or personal reasons. So, in frustration, I will repeat myself.

In 1975, when leaving my position as a criminal defense attorney in the Navy JAG Corps and applying to become a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, the Chief of the Criminal Division looked at me directly and said: “Jim, in this Office you will do the right thing for the right reason, every time! If you make a mistake, we will have your back. But if you do things for personal or political reasons, you will be held accountable!” I have never forgotten that mandate and, I am deeply proud to say, never in my three and-a-half years in that Office did I ever encounter a situation in which I felt any of my fellow prosecutors were doing anything other than following that mandate.

Yes, the jobs of police officers and prosecutors are difficult and complicated. But, as the saying goes, “Only in a Police State is the job of a policeman easy.” So respecting the due process rights of everyone in our society is one of the true mandates of our Constitution, and one of the truly critical keys of who we are as a country. Thus, if people even have reason even to think that our police officers or prosecutors are acting for personal or political reasons, that is terribly harmful to who we are as a country. And, since we are fundamentally in charge of our governments, if they are not working we have no one to blame but ourselves! So it is up to us! I hope that you agree!

(Two Sayings to share with you that have graced the walls of our house for years: “Happy ever after begins today,” and “Bless this house with friends, love and laughter.”)