Rod Rosenstein Defends The Rule of Law

[AGBF]

Rod Rosenstein Defends The Rule of Law​

This is for Annette. She just wrote a very thoughtful posting in another thread and then expressed her gratitude for hearing that Rod Rosenstein is being supported by at least some some members of The Third Estate. I thought that the threats against him and what he said in their face deserved a thread of its own. One of the comments below this YouTube video is,
"You look at this guy and he looks so nerdish. Who would have thought he would have a titanium backbone?!!"

 

[Dancing Fire]

Rod Rosenstein Defends The Rule of Law​

Deb
you meant to say "above the law", right???

http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/386067-rod-rosenstein-is-not-above-the-law

 

[tkyasx78]

Mr. Rosenstein seems like a good man.
Thank-you for sharing!

 

[AGBF]

Deb
you meant to say "above the law", right???

http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/386067-rod-rosenstein-is-not-above-the-law

You are simply trying to be provocative or you are ill-informed, Dancing Fire. I read the opinion piece (written by a pollster, not a jurist) in "The Hill". He is hardly equipped to make the assertions he does about law. Here is a more reasoned opinion.

Excerpted from "Legislative Oversight of the FBI in the United States" by James X. Dempsey


"Details of Pending Investigations or On-going Intelligence Operations

The oversight committees do not exercise daily control over individual criminal
investigations or intelligence gathering operations. They do not approve or disapprove
individual investigations. Indeed, the committees normally do not receive information
about pending criminal investigations, or the identities of informants or detail concerning intelligence collection operations. There are several reasons for this practice
of not trying to control active cases: First, the committees are worried that information
shared with them might be released by a member to the media, even accidentally,
hurting the investigation. Second, close supervision of pending cases could degenerate
into efforts by the committees to start or stop investigations for their own political
reasons. Proper legislative oversight does not mean substituting the political agenda of
the legislature for the political agenda of the Executive Branch. Rather, the objective of
oversight should be to protect the operations of the FBI from any political influence,
from either Congress or the President. Third, there is a concern for individual rights.
The existence of an investigation is treated as confidential not only to protect the integrity of the investigation but also to protect the subject of the investigation; a person's reputation can be gravely damaged by the public disclosure of the fact that a person is under investigation. Finally, the oversight committee members believe they can fully address any policy questions after an FBI investigation is closed.

However, the oversight committees may inquire into pending cases if there is reason to believe that the government is conducting investigations for political purposes, or is engaging in favoritism, or is using improper techniques. The Executive Branch will be reluctant to describe pending investigations in detail, but especially if the targets of investigations are willing to publicly state that they are being surveilled and harassed, the committees can press the agency to justify its actions. After an
investigation is closed, there are no practical constraints on the committee’s inquiry."

Deb/AGBF

 

[Calliecake]

@AGBF , Thank you for posting this. Our country needs more people like Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller. Our country needs leaders who care about democracy, truth, science, clean air and water, and people.

Please don’t let Dancing Fire upset you. He fails to see that watching everything our country stands for being eroded and destroyed is upsetting for some of us.

 

[AGBF]

@AGBF

Please don’t let Dancing Fire upset you. He fails to see that watching everything our country stands for being eroded and destroyed is upsetting for some of us.

Thank you, Calliecake. Dancing Fire does not upset me. Ignorance upsets me. That the author of that ignorant article about Rod Rosentstein was given space in "The Hill" bothers me, not because I do not believe in free speech. I believe in free speech and the right of people to say fatuous things in print. What bothers me is that sometimes they are given platforms for their stupidity by somewhat reputable journals which then do not not allot as much space to sensible writers. As long as sensible and intelligent people have a voice in the free press, I will be satisfied. We cannot force people to think; we can only ensure that that there is a free press and freedom of speech.

AGBF

PS-I did enjoy teaching because I liked to engage with people in a mutual process of our getting each other to think.