{"id":1964892,"date":"2023-07-05T17:34:04","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T21:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/special-counsel-jack-smith-once-had-a-run-in-with-the-nations-highest-justice-and-it-didnt-end-well-for-him\/"},"modified":"2023-07-05T17:35:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T21:35:53","slug":"special-counsel-jack-smith-once-had-a-run-in-with-the-nations-highest-justice-and-it-didnt-end-well-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/special-counsel-jack-smith-once-had-a-run-in-with-the-nations-highest-justice-and-it-didnt-end-well-for-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s Encounter with the Supreme Court Ended Badly"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fspecial-counsel-jack-smith-once-had-a-run-in-with-the-nations-highest-justice-and-it-didnt-end-well-for-him%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1964892&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Special Counsel Jack Smith Once Had a Run-In with the Nation&#8217;s Highest Justice, And It Didn&#8217;t End Well for Him<\/h2>\n<p>When a federal prosecutor\u2019s top critics include the nation\u2019s top justice, the rest of the country should be seeing warning signs.<\/p>\n<p>When that prosecutor\u2019s current target is a former president of the United States, who currently presents the strongest challenge to the administration now in power, those warning signs should move into outright alarms over a perversion of \u201cjustice\u201d by the nation\u2019s Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s exactly what the country is seeing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/know-doj-special-counsel-terrifying\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">special counsel Jack Smith<\/a>, whose view of the law is apparently so warped it once united an ideologically split Supreme Court to reject it \u2014 and drew notable criticism from Chief Justice John Roberts in the process<\/p>\n<p>Smith, head of the Justice Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/criminal-pin\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Integrity Section<\/a> from 2010 to 2015, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2023\/jul\/4\/jack-smiths-record-rife-mistrials-overturned-convi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Times<\/a>, is a veteran prosecutor with scores of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-will-hear-boston-marathon-bomber-execution-case\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Will Hear Boston Marathon Bomber Execution Case\">high-profile cases<\/a> behind him.<\/p>\n<p>One of his biggest cases involved former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican who was on the shortlist to be the running mate of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Smith obtained an indictment of McDonnell and his wife in January 2014, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/special-counsel-jack-smith-mixed-history-pursuing-politicians\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington Examiner<\/a> detailed in a November 2022 report.<\/p>\n<p>McDonnell and his wife were convicted in September 2014, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/former-gov-bob-mcdonnell-found-guilty-in-corruption-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBS News<\/a> reported at the time, after a trial that featured tawdry details of the couple\u2019s marital difficulties. (They later divorced.)<\/p>\n<p>They were found guilty of supposedly trading the powers of Bob McDonnell\u2019s office for favors from a Virginia businessman.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Is Donald Trump getting a fair treatment from Jack Smith\u2019s prosecution team?<\/h3>\n<form id=\"firefly-poll\" onsubmit=\"ff_poll_submit(event)\">\n\t\t<label><input type=\"radio\" name=\"answer\" value=\"yes\">Yes<\/label><br \/>\n\t\t<label><input type=\"radio\" name=\"answer\" value=\"no\">No<\/label><br \/>\n\t\t<br \/>\n\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Vote\"><br \/>\n\t<\/form>\n<div class=\"firefly-poll-disclaimer\">\n\t\tCompleting this poll entitles you to The Western Journal news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/about\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/about\/terms-service\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.\n\t<\/div>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results\" style=\"display: none\">\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results-yes\" style=\"width: 0%\">\n\t\t\tYes: 0% (0 Votes)\n\t\t<\/div>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-results-no\" style=\"width: 100%\">\n\t\t\tNo: 100% (6 Votes)\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When the guilty verdict came after three days of jury deliberation, McDonnell\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/steve-bannon-released-from-custody-after-appearing-before-judge\/\" title=\"Steve Bannon Released from Custody After Appearing Before Judge\">attorney told reporters<\/a> he planned to appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The case finally reached the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/aoc-gets-lesson-constitution-mouthing-off-supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Supreme Court<\/a>, which threw out the McDonnell verdict in a <em>unanimous<\/em> decision in 2016, according to the Examiner.<\/p>\n<p>That was after Smith had left the section, but the conviction was part of his record in the unit. As thumping as that result was for the government\u2019s case, Roberts\u2019 explanation was even worse for the team.<\/p>\n<p>Writing on <a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/case\/united-states-v-mcdonnell-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">behalf of the court<\/a>, Roberts simply demolished the theory of the prosecution as \u201cinconsistent with both text and precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution\u2019s \u201cexpansive interpretation of \u2018official act\u2019 would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/special-counsel-jack-smith-once-had-a-run-in-with-the-nations-highest-justice-and-it-didnt-end-well-for-him\/\" title=\"Special Counsel Jack Smith's Encounter with the Supreme Court Ended Badly\">raise significant constitutional concerns<\/a>,\u201d Roberts wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConscientious public officials arrange meetings for constituents, contact other officials on their behalf, and include them in events all the time. Representative government assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act appropriately on their concerns. The Government\u2019s position could cast a pall of potential prosecution over these relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In short, Smith\u2019s unit was trying to criminalize politics \u2014 something that might work well in a Justice Department overseen by a self-righteous ideologue like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/matt-gaetz-sends-scathing-letter-merrick-garland-list-3-demands-ag-weeks-comply\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Attorney General Merrick Garland<\/a> but does not fit the mission of the Justice Department in an American system of government.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Roberts noted, White House counsels from <em>both parties<\/em> \u2014 from the 1980s to the time of the McDonnell case, had warned that the section\u2019s approach represented a \u201cbreathtaking expansion of public-corruption law\u201d that \u201cwould likely chill federal officials\u2019 interactions with the people they serve and thus damage their ability effectively to perform their duties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Roberts wrote, six former attorneys general from Virginia \u2014 four Democrats and two Republicans \u2014 as well as 77 former attorneys general from other states \u2014 41 Democrats, 35 Republicans and one independent \u2014 had written the court to weigh in against the government\u2019s case.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not the only case where Smith has ended up on the wrong side of events.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s unit also won an indictment of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards on campaign finance charges but lost the case in a mistrial when the jury couldn\u2019t agree on a conviction. The Justice Department did not try it again, the Examiner reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Public Integrity Section did manage to put away former Arizona GOP Rep. Rick Renzi of extortion charges in 2013, as a Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/former-congressman-richard-g-renzi-sentenced-extortion-and-bribery-illegal-federal-land-swap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a> from the time shows, but Renzi was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-issues-73-pardons-including-multiple-prominent-names\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pardoned by Trump<\/a> on his final day in office.<\/p>\n<p>Renzi maintained his innocence, according to The Washington Times, and had a jaundiced view of his prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are no white knights. They are very dangerous and will use any tactics to win at all costs,\u201d he told the Times.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s safe to say that\u2019s the way most convicts feel about their prosecutors, but Smith is clearly a different case. He\u2019s shown a profound willingness to bend the law to serve his purposes in a way that was so unacceptable that every Supreme Court justice \u2014 liberal and conservative \u2014 in 2016 overturned arguably his biggest conviction.<\/p>\n<p>Getting an indictment is different from getting a conviction \u2014 as the Edwards case shows \u2014 and Smith\u2019s indictment of Trump is so obviously, obscenely political that it hasn\u2019t hurt Trump\u2019s candidacy in the least (at least not yet).<\/p>\n<p>And as that Roberts ruling indicates, Smith\u2019s brand of lawfare is antithetical to the very nature of the American legal system.<\/p>\n<p>It might suit Smith well as an attack dog for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/parents-group-speaks-reportedly-targeted-fbi-merrick-garland-terrorist-threats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">conniving Merrick Garland<\/a>. He might fit in just fine with all the other made men of the Biden Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not going to help to convince the rest of the country he\u2019s not simply on a vendetta to win a conviction at all costs \u2014 regardless of its merits in a true system of justice.<\/p>\n<p>Smith apparently isn\u2019t worried too much about niceties like that. John Roberts\u2019 opinion made that clear.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/special-counsel-jack-smith-run-nations-highest-justice-didnt-end\/\">Special Counsel Jack Smith Once Had a Run-In with the Nation&#8217;s Highest Justice, And It Didn&#8217;t End Well for Him<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the highest justice in the nation becomes a federal prosecutor&#8217;s main critic, it should raise concerns for the entire country. These concerns escalate to alarming levels when the prosecutor&#8217;s focus is on a former US president, who poses a significant challenge to the current administration in power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2007,"featured_media":1964893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1964893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}