From Georgia to New York, 2024 could turn on the odor of selective prosecution | The Hill

It is not just the Trump and Biden cases where there is a stench of selective prosecution. Consider a few other recent cases.

In California, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney issued an opinion that found such evidence of selective prosecution against conservative groups. In considering a far-right group, Carney noted that the Justice Department has had sharply different approaches based on the political views of the defendants. Antifa and other leftist groups often see charges dropped, whereas federal prosecutors seek draconian sentences against conservative defendants.

Such selective prosecution leaves the troubling impression that the government believes speech on the left more deserving of protection than speech on the right. The government remains free to prosecute those, like Defendants, who allegedly use violence to suppress First Amendment rights. But it cannot ignore others, equally culpable, because Defendants speech and beliefs are more offensive. The Constitution forbids such selective prosecution, Carney noted.

That treatment was equally glaring when federal prosecutors convicted an Antifa supporter who took an ax to the door of Sen. John Hoeven s office in Fargo. He was given no jail time, and the FBI even returned his ax. 

He later mocked the government by posting on social media Look what the FBI were kind enough to give back to me!

via thehill.com

Jonathan Turley. In his partial defense, Merrick Garland I have heard has Biden’s problem — the infirmities of age make him unable to control his aides, should he be so inclined.