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Comment by beeflet

5 days ago

I think they may get away with it. Our head-of-state is already describing it as an act of self-defense.

15 comments

beeflet

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jcranmer  5 days ago

The president can do jack shit to stop a state prosecution, one of the blessed advantages of federalism.

  • beeflet  5 days ago

    That may be the case, I am not an expert in law. I hope there is some type of repercussion for the cop that point-blanks a random driver.

    I just don't hold much faith in the separation of power between state and federal government, it sounds like there has been a massive erosion of this barrier since the civil war and the abuse of the commerce clause and all that.

    • nickthegreek  5 days ago

      A cop did not do this, an ice agent did. It might sound trivial, but it very much isn’t when it comes to prosecution in this circumstance.

  • websiteapi  5 days ago

    this is not true. why is this upvoted? first of all, ICE is federal. second, they were acting as part of "federal official" duties. it will be trivial to move any state prosecution to federal court.

    • jcranmer  5 days ago

      Federal officers aren't immune from state prosecution just because they're federal officers, or because they're doing their federal duties at the moment. They also have to be acting in accord with their federal duties. See, e.g., https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-federal-officials-i... (although that's not in response to the current incident).

      They will certainly attempt to dismiss any charges, but they are far from guaranteed that they will be successful.

      3 replies →

  • esseph  5 days ago

    Maybe he cuts their federal funding by $10Bn until they drop the charge. Seems to be roughly the playbook.

hahahahhaah  5 days ago

They definitely get away with it. To be punished requires:

1. Prosecution. US wont because of trump. State might not because of some threat from trump.

2. Proof beyond reasonable doubt. Video can make case for self defence so bar is high.

3. No presidential pardon.