While Twin Citians and others gather to glorify the Rule of Law, the tenet sits on shaky ground.
The much-venerated principle of the Rule of Law will be extolled here in Minneapolis and across the rest of the country this Friday, May 1, on Law Day. But, coming barely a week after Earth Day, the precept appears to be on the “Endangered Species” list this year.
Proclaimed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958, following a proposal by American Bar Association President Charles Rhyne, Law Day was formalized by a Congressional resolution 65 years ago in the spring of 1961. It was intended as a democratic counterweight to May Day celebrations in authoritarian and Communist regimes.
Commemorated around the nation, this year’s Law Day in Minneapolis will feature a celebratory event entitled “The Rule of Law and the American Dream.” Held Friday afternoon at the Fountain Plaza of the Hennepin County Government Center, the event is co-sponsored by the Minnesota State Bar Association and its Hennepin and Ramsey County affiliates, followed by a public reception at the Capella Tower atrium. Parallel programs are planned at the Anoka County Courthouse and other regional sites.
These events resonate with particular force in the Twin Cities this week due to actual and threatened departures from the Rule of Law. The community is still reeling from the ICE-orchestrated “Operation Surge” that brought weeks of death, destruction, and despair to the metro area this past winter—remnants of which are still being felt in the cities and surrounding suburbs.
Gather & Glorify
But while Twin Citians and others gather to glorify the Rule of Law, the tenet sits on shaky ground. Recent developments within the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) bode poorly for this sacrosanct principle.
Two weeks ago, the DOJ withdrew all opposition to the Supreme Court appeal of Steve Bannon, the President’s former campaign manager. Bannon is seeking to overturn his criminal conviction for contempt of Congress from three years ago. This move was quickly followed by a DOJ request to redact the convictions of the leaders of the two most nefarious groups from the January 6th Capitol riots: the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
The DOJ’s declination to oppose Bannon’s appeal resulted in the Supreme Court favorably disposing of his case, effectively removing his criminal record without the political cost of a formal presidential pardon. Meanwhile, the unopposed eradication of the criminal records for the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers complements the pardons and commutations they received on the President’s first day in office this term. These are among the 1,500-plus exercises of clemency for election-denial insurrectionists, including about a dozen Minnesotans.
This represents yet another round of largesse for Bannon, who previously received a pardon at the end of the first Trump term regarding the “We Build the Wall” fraud case. In that instance, money promised by contributors to extend the Mexican border wall was instead used to line the pockets of Bannon and his confederates.
Rewarding Rioters
These DOJ actions this April portend more than meets the eye. They may be precursors for a massive financial shift. Many of the 1,500-plus January 6 rioters have brought multiple legal cases seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from the government for “excessive force” used in repelling the insurrection, as well as for “wrongful” charging and conviction. This includes a $100 million claim by the leadership of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
These claimants are invoking various legal mechanisms to seek self-awarded compensation. While the Justice Department is ostensibly tasked with defending the Treasury against these claims, the current leadership’s viewpoint—which seeks to venerate rather than vanquish the rioters—suggests the opposition will be minimal, if it exists at all.
In fact, the DOJ might take the same approach it used in the Bannon brouhaha: by not mounting any opposition or failing to show up in court, they invite a default victory for the rioters. This would open the Treasury to substantial payouts.
Any damages must still be awarded by judges or juries, but that “inconvenience” can be bypassed through out-of-court settlements. Even without a settlement, a lack of defense makes it significantly easier for rioters to secure large monetary awards. It is a scenario akin to a football team marching down the field with no defense in sight; the rioters won’t even need a “Hail Mary” pass or a three-point shot from the logo to win.
Big Bucket
The funds for these payouts will come from the government’s general coffers. While the hundreds of millions of dollars likely to be awarded are a “drop” in a trillion-dollar deficit bucket, the symbolic cost is higher.
This sets the stage for President Trump himself to cash in on at least three of his own legal actions, seeking both the reimbursement of his legal fees and compensatory damages arising from his involvement in the attempted insurrection and other alleged “wrongdoing” by government authorities against him.
The evaporation of Bannon’s conviction and the expungement of the Proud Boys’ records, coupled with anticipated damage awards to the rioters and the President himself, refutes the frequently-invoked cliché that “crime doesn’t pay.”
For those in the President’s orbit, it certainly does.
