About That Comey Caper

A  free society cannot stay free for long if the criminal-justice system becomes a political weapon, if that becomes our norm.

The most alarming aspect of the Trump–Russia investigation, and of the stark difference between the aggression with which it was pursued and the see-no-evil passivity of the Clinton emails caper, is the way the investigative process was used to influence political outcomes.

The way to right that wrong is to prevent it from becoming the new normal, not to turn the tables of abuse when power shifts from one side to the other. We can only make things worse by losing the distinction between rebuking errors in judgment and criminalizing them.

Ardent Trump supporters are growling over news that the FBI’s former director, James Comey, will not be prosecuted by the Justice Department for the mishandling of memoranda he wrote about his contacts with the president. The news has been reported by The Hill’s John Solomon and the Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett, among others.

Comey’s handling of his memos is one aspect of probes related to investigations attendant to the 2016 election, which are being conducted by Justice Department independent counsel Michael Horowitz. Indications are that Horowitz referred the memos issue to the Justice Department for possible prosecution and that, after reviewing the IG’s findings, Justice declined to pursue the matter as a criminal case.

That is the way things are supposed to work. The inspector general’s job is to ensure that colorable allegations of misconduct against Justice Department officials (including FBI officials) are thoroughly examined, so that all of the relevant facts are uncovered. The Justice Department then reviews the IG’s report, mindful of two imperatives that are in tension. On one hand, clear criminal misconduct must be prosecuted; otherwise we have a two-tiered justice system in which those we trust to enforce the law can violate it with impunity. On the other hand, poor judgment, while it should be censured and may be the basis for disciplinary action, must not be criminalized; otherwise, we discourage talented, honorable people from taking jobs that are all about excruciating judgment calls.

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See Also:

(1) Joe diGenova: Comey Right In The Middle Of “Grand Conspiracy” That John Durham Is Investigating

(2) Report: DOJ IG Referred James Comey For Criminal Prosecution For Leaking Classified Information

(3) Trump Pulls John Ratcliffe’s Director of National Intelligence Nomination

(4) Republicans increase pace of pushing Trump’s judicial picks through Senate

(5) Quotation by Dr. Adrian Rogers