Great news: Merrick Garland ready to enforce the law ... in Ukraine

Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP

Here in the US, we have ongoing violations of federal law in a coordinated campaign of intimidation targeting Supreme Court justices. A domestic terrorist group has already conducted attacks on pro-life centers and promises even more of them. The Department of Justice and the Attorney General have remained on the sidelines as those crimes have unfolded.

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Instead of dealing with federal matters within his jurisdiction, Merrick Garland has decided to spend some time in Ukraine to mull over US action on war crimes instead. Maybe Garland should have visited the neighborhoods of the justices first, eh?

Attorney General Merrick Garland is making an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Tuesday, according to a Department of Justice official.

Garland will meet with Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova to discuss the efforts to help identify, apprehend and prosecute the people involved in war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine, the official said.

Er … what? In the first place, the US has no jurisdiction in Ukraine to prosecute war crimes, not unless American citizens were involved in their commission. Those cases would more properly be directed to either Ukrainian courts or to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. We don’t officially participate with the latter, but we have provided cooperation for it at times.

None of that requires Garland’s presence in Ukraine. Moreover, this is more in the purview of the State Department, and certainly not a task for an AG to negotiate up front. Even to the extent that coordination with the DoJ would be necessary, that coordination would take place at lower levels of both State and DoJ, not between Garland and Antony Blinken.

This looks more like a way to get Garland out of DC and distract from the ongoing crime wave in the US, let alone the intimidation campaign waged by radical abortion advocates such as Ruth Sent Us and Jane’s Revenge. And the latter has more than strongly hinted that they will perpetrate violence if the Supreme Court reverses Roe in its eventual decision on Dobbs:

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Demonstrators continue to protest outside the homes of some Justices, and now comes a vow from the shadowy group that calls itself Jane’s Revenge to commit what sounds like what Democrats would call insurrection if it were aimed at another part of government.

A friend last week sent a photo of a flyer popping up around Washington. “DC CALL TO ACTION NIGHT OF RAGE,” it declares. “THE NIGHT SCOTUS OVERTURNS ROE V. WADE HIT THE STREETS YOU SAID YOU’D RIOT.”

It continues: “‘TO OUR OPPRESSORS: IF ABORTIONS AREN’T SAFE, YOU’RE NOT EITHER.’ JANE’S REVENGE.”

That’s an incitement to more than peaceful protest against the Court. The threat of violence has to be taken seriously because Jane’s Revenge has already taken credit for acts of destruction against pregnancy-crisis centers around the country. Our Nicole Ault nearby reports on this ominous trend against pro-life groups that counsel pregnant women considering abortion.

Media reports say the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the attacks, and we hope so.

We might take that hope more seriously if Garland and the DoJ bothered to enforce the very wise law against demonstrations at the homes of federal judges. Congress passed 18 USC 1507 in recognition that such demonstrations serve no legitimate political purpose as judges decide cases on the law and the Constitution. Popular opinion and lobbying should focus instead on the legislative and executive branches if the intent is to influence public policy in a legitimate manner.

Instead, Garland and the DoJ have remained AWOL while demonstrators first doxx the Supreme Court justices and then conduct illegal demonstrations targeting them for harassment and intimidation. The doxxing led directly to an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which even then didn’t prompt Garland to do anything except ignore 18 USC 1507.

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If these intimidation tactics aimed at the liberal justices, or if a campaign of firebombing targeted abortion clinics, would Garland be sitting on the sidelines or making resumé-burnishing trips to Ukraine? We know the answer to that already, because this was the same Attorney General who rushed to treat parents challenging school boards in public hearings as a form of domestic terrorism.

As for Ruth Sent Us and Jane’s Revenge, we’re getting crickets from Garland, and worse, we’re getting the back of his collar as he trots off to Ukraine.

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John Sexton 6:00 PM | December 12, 2024
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