In an address titled “The Federal Prosecutor,” delivered April 1, 1940, while he was still the U.S. attorney general, future Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson had some relevant things to say about prosecutors and prosecution. If a prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, he can also choose his defendants. “Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted. … It is in this realm – in which the prosecutor picks some person who he dislikes or desires to embarrass … that the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies.”

This is the point that Sen. Susan Collins makes in her criticism of the prosecution of Donald Trump by New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Sen. Collins has made clear that she does not support Trump and has never defended his obnoxious behavior. What she objects to is the weaponization of the legal process for political purposes in a trial that had no victims and that would not have taken place if Trump were not involved.

Trump’s trial is a perfect example of the prosecutorial abuse that Robert Jackson warned about. Determining which prosecutions should take place requires making fair-minded distinctions that Alvin Bragg, many letter writers and the Press Herald’s editorial board – all of whom heartily dislike Trump – fail to make.

Sen. Collins understands the distinctions and shows a great deal of backbone in making them.

Martin Jones
Freeport

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