Dear John,
Project 2025 embodies an agenda led by the Heritage Foundation to revise, reorganize and eliminate vast portions of the statutes, rules and norms that were built over decades, and that have guided our democracy and preserved our freedoms during Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Embodied in a 900-page document entitled “Mandate for Leadership – The Conservative Promise,” and developed in collaboration with more than 100 other organizations, Project 2025 would dramatically change both.
It is important to stress that recent changes in the Project’s leadership alter neither the document’s text nor the “Mandate for Leadership” that lies behind it. The president of the Heritage Foundation has made clear that the policy work has been completed as scheduled and their efforts to build a personnel apparatus to carry out this work at all levels of government continues.
All of us, and lawyers in particular, have a role to play in discussing with others the nature of the proposed changes and how they endanger our freedom. To facilitate those discussions, Lawyers Defending American Democracy is publishing a series of “Talking Points” that highlight changes Project 2025 is intent on making and their potential effect.
Each Talking Point will quote directly from a section of the document and explain its impact on our democracy, our freedom, and the rule of law. Please share this information widely with your friends, family, and colleagues in the upcoming months.
Legal Actions Against Local Prosecutors (page 553)
“Where warranted and proper under federal law, initiate legal action against local officials—including District Attorneys—who deny American citizens the ‘equal protection of the laws’ by refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions. This holds true particularly for jurisdictions that refuse to enforce the law against criminals based on the Left’s favored defining characteristics of the would-be offender (race, so-called gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) or other political considerations (e.g., immigration status).”
Why it Matters: Talking Points
There are over 2,000 locally elected district attorneys who have authority to pursue criminal charges, enforce the law, and administer justice in accordance with the state and local laws of their respective jurisdictions. They have – and should retain – the sole decision-making authority to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against a person or entity and, if so, what charges are to be filed.
Authorizing the Department of Justice to pursue undefined “legal action” against local prosecutors would constitute an unprecedented, inappropriate, and unlawful federal intrusion into local prosecutorial decision-making. District Attorneys could face lawsuits or possibly criminal prosecution for lawfully deciding not to pursue criminal prosecution against an individual based on the totality of the evidence and the terms of the local criminal statute.
The unmistakable objective is to empower extremists who will control the Justice Department to compel more aggressive criminal prosecution of any cause that meets their agenda, without regard to whether the underlying law is constitutional, whether it fits within the priorities of the local District Attorney's and the region's criminal justice needs and priorities, or whether there are sufficient funds available for local prosecutors to pursue a federal agenda.
Lastly, federal interference in decisions made by local prosecutors who know their communities and the people they serve would substantially diminish the freedoms those prosecutors seek to protect.
Visit our website for more on our Project 2025 Talking Points Series.
Thank you for your dedication to maintaining our democracy. Please support our efforts by donating to LDAD and by sending this email to your networks. As always, please also feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you may be interested in volunteering or if you wish to share your ideas.
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