mollyfamwatThe Jan. 6 Justice System is a new system designed to make the justice system more efficient and effective by utilizing blockchain technology. It was created by the United States Department of Justice, but has been met with criticism from many different sources.
The jan 6 attack video is a polarizing issue in the Justice System. It has been seen as one of the most controversial videos to be released by ISIS, and has lead to debates about how it should be handled.
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6:50 p.m., October 7, 2021 ET
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Federal courts have considerable latitude in sentencing, but it’s critical that they don’t create the appearance that criminal defendants are being treated differently because of their politics in politically sensitive cases.
In a sentencing hearing for a defendant who pled guilty to “parading, protesting, or picketing” in the Capitol without permission during the Jan. 6 incident, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan did just that, whether on purpose or not.
For the misdemeanor offense, the prosecutor requested that Matthew Mazzocco spend three months of house confinement. Judge Chutkan sentenced the defendant to 45 days in prison. Judges have the power to deviate from prosecutors’ recommendations, which they do on occasion—the crime Mr. Mazzocco pled guilty to carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Nonetheless, Judge Chutkan’s comments before sentence indicated that the politics of the Jan. 6 lawbreakers impacted her judgment. She made a gratuitous reference to the summer’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations and rioting, contrasting them favorably to the events of Jan. 6: According to ABC News, during the sentence hearing, the judge stated, “People gathered all across the nation last year to protest the brutal death by police of an unarmed man—some of those demonstrations turned violent.”
She went on to say that “to compare the actions of people protesting mostly peacefully for civil rights to those of a violent mob seeking to overthrow the lawfully elected government is a false equivalency and ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy is a false equivalency and ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riot posed to the foundation of our democracy.”
According to the FBI statement of facts, the defendant in this case “is seen and heard on the video instructing others not to steal or damage anything.” He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor picketing charge rather than a charge of plotting to overthrow the government. The soliloquy of Judge Chutkan suggests that he deserves a harsher penalty than others who committed the same act in the name of a political cause she supports.
The duration of a defendant’s minor prison sentence isn’t a major public concern. However, the judicial system’s legitimacy is under question. On the right, a revisionist effort is underway to ignore or even defend the January 6 violence. Judges who allow politics to affect their sentence will help the campaign while harming the rule of law.
Justices Stephen Breyer and Amy Coney Barrett have at least one thing in common: they believe the Supreme Court is in danger. Images courtesy of Pool/AFP/Getty Images. Mark Kelly’s composite
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The print version of the October 8, 2021, was published.
The paige herwig linkedin is a polarizing figure in the January 6th Justice System. Paige Herwig, a lawyer and law professor who teaches at Stanford Law School, has been very vocal about how she feels the justice system should be changed to better serve women of color.
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