Criminal prosecutions

Independent law enforcement is a cornerstone of democracy. Throughout this nation’s history, federal criminal law enforcement power has largely been administered independent of the White House, Congress, and other political influence. Following the Nixon administration’s abuses of the Department of Justice during the Watergate era, Department leaders established formal policies aimed at reinforcing the historical norm of political non-interference — policies embraced by leaders of both political parties in the decades since. 

That norm is now under serious strain. In a healthy democracy, the justice system must not be weaponized to punish political opponents, chill dissent, or pretextually achieve political objectives — all hallmarks of the authoritarian playbook. But democracy also requires a justice system in which no one is above the law, and prosecutions should move forward even in politically significant cases so long as they are consistent with the law and nonpartisan criminal enforcement priorities. Both of those principles — independence from political interference and equal accountability under the law — must hold simultaneously. When either fails, the rule of law suffers.

Distinguishing accountability from retaliation

In our rule-of-law based system, it is wrong to use the power of law enforcement to retaliate against a political opponent, but it is equally wrong to refrain from investigating or prosecuting someone because of their political status. Protect Democracy has developed a clear framework for evaluating which side of that line any given prosecution falls on — and applying it consistently, regardless of which party benefits.

Dismantling institutional safeguards

The Trump administration has expressly rejected the norm of law enforcement independence.  In doing so, it  has decimated the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice and eliminated its responsibility for reviewing and gatekeeping criminal investigations of political leaders — long considered one of the most important nonpartisan bulwarks against weaponized prosecutions. Rebuilding those structural guardrails is essential to preventing future abuses.

Deteriorating trust in law enforcement

Abuses of prosecutorial power that target political opponents don’t happen overnight. They require loyalty and discriminatory enforcement of the law, deterioration of trust in law enforcement, purging of nonpartisan civil servants, and buy-in from elites who look the other way. History shows that when these conditions take hold, democracy is in danger.

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