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Federal judge orders female genital mutilation charges dropped in Detroit
WJBK Detroit ^ | NOV 20 2018

Posted on 11/20/2018 3:36:32 PM PST by Mr. Mojo

DETROIT (WJBK) - A federal judge has dismissed six charges of female genital mutilation against a doctor, declaring the nation's female genital mutilation law as unconstitutional.

The federal judge in Detroit ruled in the historic case on Tuesday, ruling the law that prevents female genital mutilation (FGM) is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that congress does not have the authority to make FGM illegal, which it had been classified as illegal under the Necessary and Proper Clause or the Commerce Clause.

Doctor charged with female genital mutilation could face life in prison

The case involved Dr. Jumana Nagarwala who had been awaiting trial on female genital mutilation charges. She was arrested in the summer of 2017 and was released on a $4.5 million bond.

According to the opinion filed by Friedman, congress had banned FGM under a statute that states "whoever knowingly circumcises, excises, or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person who has not attained the age of 18 years shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both."

Prosecutors said she did that with at least six girls at a clinic in the Detroit area, including two girls from Minnesota. The doctor denies that she committed a crime and says she performed a religious custom from her Muslim sect, the India-based Dawoodi Bohra.

The doctor, through her attorneys, argued that the law that the federal government had been using to charge her was passed through Congress without proper vetting.

Her attorneys argued that the act of FGM had no bearing on commerce, which judge Friedman agreed with in his opinion:

"That clause permits Congress to regulate activity that is commercial or economic in nature and that substantially affects interstate commerce either directly or as part of an interstate market that has such an effect. The government has not shown that either prong is met."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: detroit; fgm; islam; michigan
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To: SkyDancer

Sharia just getting started in the US


41 posted on 11/20/2018 4:34:01 PM PST by morphing libertarian (Use Comey's Report; Indict Hillary now. --- Proud Smelly Walmart Deplorable)
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To: Mr. Mojo
You know what's really ironic about this horrorshow? If this thing gets to the Supreme Court, the argument that barbaric FGM does not substantially affect interstate commerce could be used to either overturn Wickard v. Filburn or substantially narrow its scope.

So let's appeal this seemingly odious ruling all the way to SCOTUS and hope that it's upheld and used to gut Wickard v. Filburn or overturn it altogether.

In the meantime, Michiganders, why not get your own state law against FGM before the Moslems become to numerous to prevent its passage.

42 posted on 11/20/2018 4:50:46 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks ( The US Constitution ....... Invented by geniuses and God .... Administered by morons ......)
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To: Mr. Mojo

That poor, tortured Commerce Clause. It’s about its abuse was reined back. But this case? Surely there must be better Constitutional grounds for outlawing that narbaric practice.


43 posted on 11/20/2018 4:51:38 PM PST by NonValueAdded (#DeplorableMe #BitterClinger #HillNO! #cishet #MyPresident #MAGA #Winning #covfefe)
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To: ConservaTexan

I believe FGM is closer to having the entire head of the penis cut off, rather than just the foreskin. This “nicking” of the clitoral hood could be a cover story for the actual mutilation that occurs.


44 posted on 11/20/2018 4:55:49 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks ( The US Constitution ....... Invented by geniuses and God .... Administered by morons ......)
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To: Crusher138
Yup - the judge decided this case was an overreach of Federal Commerce Clause power, and that if the procedure is to be banned, it should be at the state level.

He is NOT saying that the procedure is protected because the practitioners are Muslims, which is what some mouth-breathers are implying in this thread.

But I do hope it will be appealed, because it could be really interesting to see a Commerce Clause case like this affirmed at the Circuit or Supreme Court level.

45 posted on 11/20/2018 4:57:07 PM PST by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Mr. Mojo

I’m just stunned. Who knew the comerce clause still existed?


46 posted on 11/20/2018 5:00:33 PM PST by j. earl carter
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Thank you for the info.


47 posted on 11/20/2018 5:03:50 PM PST by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911)
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THEN GO BACK TO YOUR HELLHOLE IN THE EAST DAMNED you!!!
Dr. MYAzz...


48 posted on 11/20/2018 5:14:28 PM PST by mabarker1 (Congress- the opposite of PROGRESS!!!)
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To: SkyDancer

Murder is also not a federal crime also


49 posted on 11/20/2018 5:24:33 PM PST by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Mr. Mojo
there is a lot of confusion about this, made worse because the PC feminists and anthropologists support it blindly.

There are three levels of FGM:

the first, a simple slit, is equivalent to a dorsal slit type circumcision and causes no harm.

The second removes the clitoris and affects a woman's sex life and can cause urinary problems, but the harm is minimum

The third type removes everything outside, and causes pain with sex, and obstruction in labor. One of the reasons that fistulas are so common in parts of Africa, from obstructed labor.

And this predates Islam: Indeed, Mohamed knew he would upset people if he forbad it, so he said “just cut a little”. So one could argue only the first type is haram.

and I should note it is done in non Muslim populations.

Of course, in a world where pre teens are having their genitals cut for “gender dysphoria” it is hard to argue that you can't do this to girls.

It is done shortly before puberty, similar to male circumcision in Islam, not on infants.

So without finding what was being done, you don't know if the judge is crazy or if the docs were doing the minimal cut.

50 posted on 11/20/2018 5:26:39 PM PST by LadyDoc (Liberals only love politically correct poor people)
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To: TexasGator

Ummm - this?https://www.wklaw.com/10-ways-murder-becomes-a-federal-crime/


51 posted on 11/20/2018 5:38:22 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: sparklite2

Praying for them does not equate to forcing them into conversion therapy.
....................
Can you please define exactly what conversion therapy is? If not, then
why don’t you shut up and let parents raise their children as they choose, short of physically mutilating them?


52 posted on 11/20/2018 5:44:15 PM PST by bramps (It's the Islam, stupid!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Separate from this case, the “Commerce Clause” of the US Constitution has been badly abused by courts for decades, to insert the federal govt into so many areas that are not really to do with interstate commerce. SO the judge may be taking a very sensible position that should have been taken many times before, that the Commerce Clause should not be used to permit federal intervention in every imaginable circumstance.

But whether FGM is the right point to finally start pushing back on this trend, I don’t know. It is true that in our system criminal law should mainly be the province of state and local govt, with carefully defined exceptions.


53 posted on 11/20/2018 5:46:32 PM PST by Trump_the_Evil_Left (FReeper formerly known as Enchante (registered Sept. 5, 2001), back from the wild....)
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To: vette6387

Damn right. A barbaric practice that should never been allowed in the U.S. from the start.


54 posted on 11/20/2018 5:55:57 PM PST by Squeako (You can lead a progressive to water, but can you make him drown?)
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To: ConservaTexan

The most sensitive part of the penis is not the glans/head; that’s all that’s left to be sensitive since the rest is cut off (most often without anesthesia) so grown men don’t even know what is missing.


55 posted on 11/20/2018 5:59:46 PM PST by Squeako (You can lead a progressive to water, but can you make him drown?)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
A federal judge has dismissed six charges of female genital mutilation against a doctor, declaring the nation's female genital mutilation law as unconstitutional.

56 posted on 11/20/2018 6:03:57 PM PST by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
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To: Fair Paul

However they need to be more consistent...there’s a whole lot of other laws masquerading as regulation of interstate commerce that aren’t.


57 posted on 11/20/2018 6:04:12 PM PST by scrabblehack
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To: Mr. Mojo

we really require a hard, severe purge in this nation. very hard reset.


58 posted on 11/20/2018 6:21:31 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Barbarism masquerading as religion.


59 posted on 11/20/2018 6:32:20 PM PST by Titus-Maximus (The trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: Squeako

“Damn right. A barbaric practice that should never been allowed in the U.S. from the start.’

I guess it depends on which religion is involved.


60 posted on 11/20/2018 6:36:27 PM PST by vette6387
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