So much for the rule of law

The more I think about Hillary Clinton’s contemptuous, in-your-face disregard for and manipulation of what used to be the United States’ justice system, the angrier I get.  I think Branco’s cartoon of July 6th, riffing off her campaign logo, summed up her attitude very concisely.

Her brazen defiance of the law, of all norms of conduct that should apply to any person of honor, and her publicly displayed contempt for due process, are so egregious that she must – I repeat, must – be called to account for them.  I can’t at present see any other way to do so other than reject her candidacy during this year’s election, but That. Must. Happen.  There is no other option.  If she gets away with her conduct, we are no longer subject to the rule of law at all – and that means “anything goes”, literally.  After all, if a politician and presidential candidate can get away with such flagrantly illegal conduct, why should anyone else bother to obey any of our laws?  If he or she is made to answer for their actions, their response can simply be, “If it was good enough for Hillary Clinton, it’s good enough for me!”

The same goes for FBI Director James Comey.  As RedState put it:

Thus we have the FBI Director rendering a scathing public indictment of Hillary Clinton is every particular of the case. In fact, he goes out of his way to demolish everything she has said. And then he, Pontius Pilate-like, walks away leaving the American founding concept of the rule of law in utter shambles.

Two other bloggers and commentators have described what I can only call his betrayal of trust far better than I can.  First, from Bloviating Zeppelin:

To me it is quite clear that FBI Director James Comey, about whose probity I wrote quite a number of times on the blog, has dishonored his law enforcement oath, showing that he has no fidelity, no bravery and no integrity with regard to his decision to not recommend prosecution of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

. . .

It is not UP to YOU, Director Comey, to assemble a case that yields a determination of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  That threshold is up to the DOJ or more pointedly a Grand Jury, not you or your organization.  All you need to compile a case for submission is “probable cause.”  That’s what real cops and real DAs in America do.  Their jobs.  They stay in their lanes and do their jobs.

There’s more at the link.

The second opinion comes from Matt Bracken, and is searing in its uncompromising honesty – unlike Mr. Comey.

I judge 2016 as being as dangerous as 1860 or 1913. In European terms, a “Night of [the] Long Knives” is now not an impossibility … Now the perception, real or imagined, is that even the FBI has been forced to toe the party line.

No spin can erase this. Bill Clinton meets Loretta Lynch in the “secret” Godfather tarmac rendezvous, then the FBI director damns but refuses to pursue Hillary. Loretta Lynch, who worked for the Clinton’s law firm, before Bill appointed her US Attorney in New York, which set her up to become Attorney General, which Obama appointed her for. Obama, who appointed FBI Director James Comey. Director Comey, who just made the FBI case to send her up for life, and then, blinking “t-o-r-t-u-r-e”, Honest Jim said, “but…she skates anyway.” The intended and received message to the masses is that the gangsters are now firmly in charge, and nobody can or will stop them. They have all the power. Even the backing of the liberal media.

. . .

Team Tyranny knows they have the Congress castrated, the SCOTUS in their pocket, FBI ditto – DOJ, are you kidding? And if Hillary wins and they get more Supremes, they just retire the trophy for a century – they own it all. Nothing can touch them. Nothing can stop them … After July 5th, 2016, and the Soviet-style forced humiliation of the FBI director, bad actors at all levels of the government will feel emboldened.

. . .

But this is also a very dangerous time for another reason, because Team Freedom will now feel, with the FBI’s forced humiliation, that they have just been given the official “your Republic is dead, we killed it, and whatcha gonna do about it?” gauntlet-face-slapping. Big Gov has now made it official. “You are my slave, and we are your overlords. We will run this country any way we want. We’ll flood it with ‘Syrian refuges’ if we want to. We’ll send a hundred “Syrians” with drug-resistant TB right to your town, just for you being a pain in our ass. We dare you to try something, punk. We double-dog dare you. Look over there, even the FBI Director is our bitch: did you see him rolling on his back, begging? The FBI is our bitch, and all of our FLEAs are just waiting to tear you an asshole if you get froggy about your ‘Republic’. Didn’t you hear? There are now more armed FLEAs than there are United States Marines.”

Again, more at the link.

I worked for the Department of Justice.  I carry DOJ retirement ID with me at all times . . . but after the blatant, in-your-face dereliction of duty displayed by Mr. Comey and Attorney General Lynch in this case, I’m ashamed to do so.  What’s more, I’m not alone in that.  I’m in regular contact with members of the FBI, the US Marshals Service, and other agencies within the DOJ.  Without exception, they’re disgusted and sick at heart at what they universally regard as a betrayal of the rule of law and the oath of office sworn by all Federal law enforcement officers (including myself):

I [name] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

In their (and my) informed, educated opinion, Director Comey’s words and actions in the Hillary Clinton investigation comprehensively violate that oath of office.  He would certainly have sworn it upon appointment, but clearly, it meant little or nothing to him.  I suspect that Attorney General Lynch’s actions (or the lack thereof) may rise (or, rather, sink) to the same standard.

This travesty of justice cannot be allowed to stand.  Hillary Clinton cannot be allowed to get away with her crimes.  If it does stand, and if she does ‘get away with it’, we may as well write off this Republic right now.  It will no longer stand for anything worthwhile.

Since, in this case, the Department of Justice manifestly isn’t, it’s up to us to, in the first place, hold Hillary Clinton accountable at the ballot box later this year.  If that doesn’t work, another way to hold her legally accountable will have to be found, and swiftly.  If it isn’t, I fear that those with more extreme views will cast caution to the winds, and show as much respect for the law in dealing with her as she has demonstrated throughout this whole imbroglio.  That may be even worse for the future of the Republic than her crimes.

Peter