Harvey Silverglate v. DOJ

Harvey Silverglate, my favorite criminal defense lawyer and champion of civil liberties, has another broadside against the DOJ at Forbes.com:

When one steps back and takes in a broader view than Juszkiewicz allowed himself to see, it is apparent that the problem is not just a war against capitalism. When a businessman is harassed by overzealous prosecutors, he declaims a war on business just as when a newspaper is harassed, it declaims a war on journalism. It would be a boon to the nation as a whole if those under attack by federal prosecutors could better understand the scope of the problem: they are victims of a war against all of civil society, waged by a Department of Justice wielding incomprehensibly vague and broad criminal statutes enacted by a Congress that too often seems not to know what it’s doing. The supposed restrictions that federalism imposes upon the power of the national government become a farce in the face of such a tangle of laws and regulations, and we all stand to lose from such an outcome.

 

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