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Dear John,
There is a palpable collective grief in this country arising from a recognition that the government of the United States is operating unbounded by the rule of law.
Each day, we watch in horror as masked ICE agents operate in military-style tactical gear, creating chaos in American cities. Journalists and bystanders have recorded images of people being forced from their cars and thrown violently to the ground, protesters pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed, food delivery employees being pursued, adolescents being handcuffed or restrained, and even American citizens being detained.
In Minneapolis, a young mother, Renee Nicole Good, was shot and killed by an ICE agent. Her last words were spoken mere seconds before the first shot was fired: “That’s fine, Dude. I’m not mad at you.” In cellphone video that appears to have been recorded by the agent himself, the recording captures a voice immediately after the shooting saying “f**king bitch.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, declined to undertake an investigation into this fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer, contrary to DOJ standard practice, leading to the resignation of top leaders of the Criminal Section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, whose core mission includes investigating the misconduct of law enforcement.
In addition, six experienced Assistant United States Attorneys in Minnesota have resigned in response to the DOJ’s handling of the matter, including the sidelining of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the DOJ’s request that the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigate Renee Good’s widow.
Within hours of the shooting, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized Renee Good as a domestic terrorist and defended the ICE agent. The President and Vice President of the United States similarly vilified Good and defended the agent, absent any evidence or investigation.
The administration has continued to defend its narrative, notwithstanding the strong outcry from local officials and the public who saw recordings of the incident that contradict the administration’s talking points.
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The collective grief we feel will continue to grow as we witness the norms and principles of our democratic form of government slip away. If we cannot trust the words of government officials, if our neighbors are at risk of being sent to inhumane detention centers or flown to foreign prisons without due process, and if the Department of Justice is focused on a retribution agenda, rather than protection of the public, we are all at risk.
Our federal district courts have been a xxxxxx, but the Supreme Court has spent much of the past year relying on its secretive emergency docket to continue to expand the powers of the presidency.
And once again, the Year-End Report of the Chief Justice displayed that same “nothing to see here” attitude that has helped bring us to this moment in our history. LDAD’s Executive Director, Lauren Stiller Rikleen, and Amherst College Professor Austin Sarat wrote about this for the Verdict: Chief Justice Roberts’s End of the Year Report Is an Embarrassing Fairy Tale [[link removed]] .
Join LDAD in Meeting this Moment [[link removed]] and help protect the rule of law. Every voice is needed.
Thank you,
Lawyers Defending American Democracy
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