Legal experts 'profoundly disturbed' by Trump admin's 'terrorism' move
The Trump administration's escalating attacks on Minnesota leaders has legal experts sounding the alarm.
Federal officials branded Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as terrorists — a stunning designation now backed by criminal investigations and subpoenas.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed to stop the alleged "terrorism" "by any means necessary," signaling an aggressive prosecutorial push against Democratic officials who've resisted the president's immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities.
Legal experts Mark Joseph Stern and Julia Gegenheimer cried foul on this week's episode of the Amicus podcast for Slate.
Gegenheimer, special litigation counsel at Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, said the administration is dangerously distorting the term "terrorism." She noted that federal law defines domestic terrorism as activities "dangerous to human life" that violate criminal law and seek to intimidate people or coerce government policy. Simply opposing administration policies doesn't come close to that threshold, she said.
"So the impact of throwing this term around very loosely is to threaten criminal punishment for conduct that falls far, far short of what federal law would actually look at as domestic terrorism," Gegenheimer warned.
Stern noted that the government has treated protesters like Renee Good similar to fishermen in international waters, "whom they bombed without any semblance of due process."
"It feels to me like an escalation to then accuse elected local and state leaders of terrorism," he said.
Gegenheimer agreed.
"It is profoundly disturbing. And the reason why this feels different to you is that it is a bit of a different flavor. It’s pitting the federal government against the states and creating tension where it doesn’t need to be. And frankly, it’s implicitly encouraging acts of political violence against these elected officials by turning them into the enemy," she said.