The Elian Gonzales case was another example of the Clinton Justice Department taking shortcuts to resolve a situation to their satisfaction. In this case, they bypassed court rulings by attacking the house that the boy was staying at, entering it by force, and abducting the boy.
The end result was what I wanted, but the way that it was done was unconscionable.
The Justice Department has this nasty tendency to violate its own procedures and the law to get what it wants. Right or wrong, the court system had agreed with Elian's relatives in Florida that he should be allowed to stay. Rather than go for a court ruling, then-Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the boy removed by force.
This action was representative of the Clinton Justice Department's willingness to take shortcuts. It withheld thousands of pages of documents from Timothy McVeigh's attorneys in his death-penalty case, they blew the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs, which resulted in innocent people being burned alive or shot by federal officers. Using battering rams and weapons to force a family to give up a child?
I mention all of this because the family sued the government for use of excessive force (see above picture) and for violating court orders. The courts recently ruled that the government was within its rights to use force.
I do have a problem with this because legal procedures were short-circuited for political gain. Reno wanted a dramatic end to the case and so sent guys with guns in. This should have been the measure of last resort...if the family had disregarded an order from the court to give Elian up and they refused, then the use of force would have been more palatable.
Instead, they did a night raid, swooped in and took the screaming child.
I wanted the kid to go back to his dad, but I wanted the system to deal with it properly first. The courts were not allowed to do so due to political considerations. We ought to legislate that!
The end result was what I wanted, but the way that it was done was unconscionable.
The Justice Department has this nasty tendency to violate its own procedures and the law to get what it wants. Right or wrong, the court system had agreed with Elian's relatives in Florida that he should be allowed to stay. Rather than go for a court ruling, then-Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the boy removed by force.
This action was representative of the Clinton Justice Department's willingness to take shortcuts. It withheld thousands of pages of documents from Timothy McVeigh's attorneys in his death-penalty case, they blew the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs, which resulted in innocent people being burned alive or shot by federal officers. Using battering rams and weapons to force a family to give up a child?
I mention all of this because the family sued the government for use of excessive force (see above picture) and for violating court orders. The courts recently ruled that the government was within its rights to use force.
I do have a problem with this because legal procedures were short-circuited for political gain. Reno wanted a dramatic end to the case and so sent guys with guns in. This should have been the measure of last resort...if the family had disregarded an order from the court to give Elian up and they refused, then the use of force would have been more palatable.
Instead, they did a night raid, swooped in and took the screaming child.
I wanted the kid to go back to his dad, but I wanted the system to deal with it properly first. The courts were not allowed to do so due to political considerations. We ought to legislate that!
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