A short time after the accident, Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey called on Gardner to resign. After the deadline for this demand passed, he issued a quo warranto, a rarely used proceeding that requires Gardner to provide legal justification for her actions or face immediate dismissal. The Missouri legislature is also considering a law that would help circumvent Gardner and other “progressive” prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law. HB 301 would let the governor appoint a “special prosecutor” to oversee especially serious charges if an elected attorney fails to uphold his duties.
Other states should take note. Consider the gunman who killed three people and wounded five others this February in Michigan: he had a previous felony-weapons violation dismissed by then-Ingham County prosecutor Carol Siemon in the name of “race equity.”
Events like these expose how progressive prosecutors’ aspirations for social justice endanger already-vulnerable communities.
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