by Dr. Eowyn
It is said that for a democracy to work, there must the rule of law. If you disagree with a law, you don’t just refuse to follow it but work within the system to change the law.
We hoi polloi, whom elites sneeringly dismiss as the “great unwashed,” who refuse to abide by the rule of law are punished. But this is not the case in America today where Democrat elites “do as they will” and blithely ignore or outright violate duly-made laws — with impunity.
An example are “sanctury” cities, counties and states. These are Democrat-governed jurisdictions that ignore, defy and violate the federal government’s immigration laws by providing “sanctuary” to illegal aliens with policies, laws, executive orders, or regulations allowing, and in some cases requiring, local law enforcement to avoid cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement authorities, as in deporting criminal illegals.
For a list of those sanctuary states, cities and counties, go here.
The latest example of lawless Democrats are 42 elected prosecutors — state attorney generals and district attorneys — who have signed a statementof refusal to enforce state laws restricting abortion, referring to the recent passage of anti-abortion laws in Alabama, Missouri and Georgia.
To impress on you the significance of their refusal to enforce those laws, note that:
- The attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states or territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state’s chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
- A district attorney (DA) is the chief prosecutor for a local government area, typically a county. The exact name of the office varies by state. Except in the smallest counties, a district attorney leads a staff of prosecutors, who are most commonly known as deputy district attorneys (DDAs). The majority of prosecutions will be delegated to DDAs, with the district attorney prosecuting the most important cases and having overall responsibility for their agency and its work.
The 42 prosecutors’ statement of June 2019, “Joint Statement from Elected Prosecutors“, says:
Several states have recently passed, or are considering the passage of, broad restrictions on abortion…leaving open the potential for criminalizing patients, medical professionals, healthcare providers, and possibly others who assist in these medical procedures….
As elected prosecutors, we took an oath to uphold both the U.S.Constitution and the Constitutions of our individual states. Our U.S. Supreme Court,i n deciding Roe v. Wade, determined that every woman has a fundamental right to privacy which is “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.”4 As some elected prosecutors have noted, the broad restrictions in the laws passed by these states appear to be unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade….
[N]ot all of us are in states where women’s rights are threatened by statutes criminalizing abortion. What brings us together is our view that as prosecutors we should not and will not criminalize healthcare decisions such as these –and we believe it is our obligation as elected prosecutors charged with protecting the health and safety of allmembers of our community to make our views clear.
Prosecutors are entrusted with immense discretion…. In our view, resources are better utilized to prevent and address serious crimes that impact our community rather than enforcing laws such as these that divide our community, create untenable choices for women and healthcare providers, and erode trust in the justice system….
In sum, as elected prosecutors with charging discretion, we choose not to prosecute individuals pursuant to these deeply concerning laws. Legal precedent, as established by the highest court in the land, has held for nearly 50 years that women have a right to make decisions about their own medical care including, but not limited to, seeking an abortion. Enforcement of laws that criminalize healthcare decisions would shatter that precedent….
The 42 elected prosecutors consist of 11 attorney generals and 31 district attorneys, also known in some states as city attorney, prosecuting attorney or state’s attorney.
The 11 attorney generals, all Democrats, are:
- Xavier Becerra, California
- Keith Ellison, Minnesota
- Aaron Ford, Nevada
- Brian E. Frosh, Maryland
- Maura Healey, Massachusetts
- Kathleen Jennings, Delaware
- Dana Nessel, Michigan
- Karl A. Racine, District of Columbia
- Kwame Raoul, lllinois
- Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon
- Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania
The 31 district attorneys, all Democrats, are:
- Alabama: Danny Carr, Jefferson County
- California: Diana Becton, Contra Costa County
- California: George Gascón, San Francisco
- California: Jeff Rosen, Santa Clara County
- Colorado: Michael Dougherty, 20th Judicial District
- Colorado: Beth McCann, Second Judicial District
- Georgia: Sherry Boston, DeKalb County
- Georgia: David Cooke, Macon Judicial Circuit
- Georgia: Paul Howard, Fulton County
- Kansas: Mark Dupree, Wyandotte County
- Maryland: Marilyn J. Mosby, Baltimore
- Massachusetts: Andrea Harrington, Berkshire County
- Massachusetts: Rachael Rollins, Suffolk County
- Massachusetts: Marian T. Ryan, Middlesex County
- Michigan: Carol A. Siemon, Ingham County
- New Mexico: Raúl Torrez, Bernalillo County
- New York: Eric Gonzalez, Kings County
- New York: Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., New York County
- North Carolina: Satana Deberry, Durham County
- Ohio: Zachary Klein
- Pennsylvania: Lawrence S. Krasner, Philadelphia
- Texas: John Creuzot, Dallas County
- Texas: Joe Gonzales, Bexar County
- Texas: Mark Gonzalez, Nueces County
- Texas: Brian Middleton, Fort Bend County
- Utah: Sim Gill, Salt Lake County
- Vermont: Thomas J. Donovan, Jr.
- Vermont: Sarah George
- Virginia: Stephanie Morales, Portsmouth
- Washington: Dan Satterberg, King County
- Wisconsin: John T. Chisholm, Milwaukee