Too many Americans -- mainly leftists and big-government types -- see the U.S. Department of Justice as a "fourth branch" of government designed to operate independently of the other three. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only does such a "fourth branch" have no place in government under the U.S. Constitution, but the DOJ didn't even exist until 1870. Up until that point the U.S. Attorney General and the various U.S. Attorneys were organized under the U.S. Treasury Department, and their purpose was to represent the U.S. government in what were primarily CIVIL matters, not CRIMINAL matters.
The whole thing went off the rails when the DOJ became a criminal prosecution enterprise, prosecuting offenses that never should have been Federal crimes in the first place.
The whole thing went off the rails when the DOJ became a criminal prosecution enterprise, prosecuting offenses that never should have been Federal crimes in the first place.
Wow. Good post AC.