il miglior fabbro

John Hayward, yet again, on the ludicrous notion that the Justice Department is going to really, no really, pursue a civil rights prosecution in the Michael Brown/Ferguson case:

This perpetual fantasy of federal double jeopardy to satisfy the mob is silly, because such charges are considerably more difficult to bring than regular criminal indictments.  The grand jury couldn’t even see “probable cause” – a very low standard – to charge Wilson with involuntary manslaughter.  A federal civil rights trial would have to prove that he abused his authority with the intent to deprive Michael Brown of his civil rights.  That would be orders of magnitude more difficult to prove than the less sensational charges the grand jury decided not to hand down.

I don’t think it’s healthy to use the Justice Department for performance art to entertain rioters, and give activists something to talk about on television for a few days.  This idea of civil-rights prosecution as a “do-over” when the regular court system fails to bring “justice” to a minority victim is poisonous.  It undermines confidence in the courts, and since the last-ditch civil-rights revenge trial never actually happens, it only makes everyone more cynical about the justice system.  For all the sunny rhetoric about “hope and change,” cynicism hangs like a dark cloud over everything these days.

More at the link.