Former Rep Bob Barr wrote an Op-Ed for the Daily Caller about New York State changing the laws to allow the state to bring charges against someone who has already been found innocent or guilty at the federal level. That is double jeopardy.
But, the New York legislature just passed a law allowing the state to bring charges anyway. That means that anyone that President might pardon could then be charged in New York. I expect the appeal of the law would go all the way to the Supreme Court.
New York’s freshman Attorney General Letitia James, has made it clear that her first priority is to get the president.
New York’s freshman Attorney General Letitia James, whose office helped draft the legislation, was quick to publicly praise the legislature’s action in passing this “exception” to the state’s double jeopardy protection law. So proud are Cuomo and company of taking this swipe at Trump, that they did not try in the slightest to disguise the animus underlying the measure.
Simply put, the legislation permits prosecutors in the Empire States to bring criminal charges against a person already convicted under federal law — but who otherwise would be shielded from state prosecution in New York — if President Trump had pardoned them for the offense or had commuted their sentence. Lest there be any misunderstanding the anti-Trump goal of the legislation, the bill’s title erases any possible confusion — “Previous Prosecution: Presidential Reprieve, Pardon, or Other Form of Clemency.”
Hateful as are the Empire State’s sentiments toward Donald Trump, they pale to at least a degree when compared to the view held by the state’s top law enforcement official toward the National Rifle Association. Shortly before her election as New York attorney general last November, Letitia James described the NRA in an interview as a “terrorist organization.”
Such characterization is significant, considering the Association is legally chartered under New York law as a not-for-profit corporation. James’ office already has launched an investigation attacking the NRA’s corporate existence; even as Cuomo is directing that insurance companies and banks operating lawfully in New York back way from doing business with the NRA.