Obama Puts Progressive Goals Above Due Process

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I really don’t care what Obama does here on out.  He’s out of the White House, after all.  But, I believe the following article copied here for you to see needs to be talked about because all liberal left Democrats are of the following mindset.  So, while this is about something written by Obama, understand that it resembles the leftist narrative, and is believed across the board by the Democrats.

In Revealing Article, Obama Puts ‘Progressive Goals’ Before Due Process

In a lengthy article, President Barack Obama only mentioned mens rea reform once and said it could “undermine public safety and harm progressive goals.” 

On Jan. 5, President Barack Obama published in the Harvard Law Review a 56-page commentary expressing his personal views on criminal law and justice, entitled “The President’s Role in Advancing Criminal Justice Reform.” 

One glaring omission stands out: The article all but forgets the crucial need for mens rea (latin for “guilty mind”) reform to reverse the erosion of due process in federal criminal law. Thus, the commentary ignores the erosion of due process protections that are supposed to be afforded to honest Americans when it comes to enforcing criminal laws. 

Mens rea is the fundamental principle that distinguishes between an accident and a crime.
In his expansive commentary, Obama briefly mentions that there are “important structural and prudential constraints on how the president can directly influence criminal enforcement.” But it omits mens rea as one constraint on the executive power to enforce the criminal law. 

On the importance of this rule of criminal law, the United States Supreme Court said in Morissette v. United States (1952): “The contention that an injury can amount to a crime only when inflicted by intention is no provincial or transient notion.” 

Far from it. The court continued, it “is as universal and persistent in mature systems of law as belief in freedom of the human will and a consequent ability and duty of the normal individual to choose between good and evil.” 

In his commentary, Obama only mentions mens rea once (and in a footnote at that), calling it a “proposal … that could undermine public safety and harm progressive goals.” 

Obama could not be more mistaken on the role for mens rea in our criminal justice system.