From State Sen. Bob Cassilly:
Friends,
One of the greatest powers of any government is the power criminal prosecutors hold to issue subpoenas compelling unsuspecting citizens to present their personal records and themselves for government examination and inquisition. This intrusive power can be exercised without charges having been filed and without court oversight.
The drafters of the Maryland Constitution were rightly suspect of the potential abuse of such incredible power. Under our earlier, colonial era constitution these investigatory and prosecutorial powers were consolidated in the single person of the Attorney General. That was later changed and the current constitution includes restrictions to reduce the risk that a single, statewide prosecutor might hold and abuse such awesome power for inappropriate motives – i.e. punish political opponents or further a personal political agenda. The power to conduct criminal investigations and prosecutions is now divided among the 24 State’s Attorneys whose powers are limited to investigate and prosecute only in the single county that comprises each State’s Attorney’s jurisdiction. The Attorney General can directly investigate and prosecute only those specific matters authorized by the Governor or the General Assembly.
This balance of powers was altered in 2017 when the General Assembly passed, on a party-line vote, Senate Joint Resolution 5 (“SJ-5”). SJ-5 authorizes the AG to pursue any criminal investigations and prosecutions he may choose in order to oppose any actions by the federal government which the AG subjectively determines to be adverse to the public interest or welfare, i.e., anything.
However, even with this incredibly broad authorization of power under SJ-5, the Attorney General’s ability to abuse his authority remains constrained by the fact that he lacks independent subpoena authority. This constraint means that in order to engage in a criminal investigation, the AG must disclose to the court or to one of the 24 State’s Attorneys his proposed investigation and ask that court or State’s Attorney to issue a subpoena. This additional step maintains to some degree the constitutional protections against the Attorney General’s unfettered abuse of his investigative powers.
Anxious to rid himself of constitutional constraints, the AG has now introduced in the General Assembly SB 870 which would allow the AG to begin independently issuing criminal investigative subpoenas throughout Maryland without meaningful constraints. It is dangerous to unleash such broad, statewide investigatory power to anyone, especially an attorney general who has already demonstrated an insatiable desire to repurpose his office for political gains. Throughout our nation’s history, citizens across the entire political spectrum have had ample reason to lament such broad investigative powers wielded by various federal special prosecutors. Nothing of value and much harm will come from the AG’s self-righteous efforts to acquire unconstrained investigatory powers.
It is important that the General Assembly defeat the Attorney General’s SB 870 power grab. Constitutional constraints on excessive governmental power are important to our long term success and should not be cast aside to further a partisan political agenda.
Bob Cassilly
Senator, District 34
www.bobcassilly.net
Bob.Cassilly@senate.state.md.us
Sen. Cassilly Threatens Constitutional Balance of Powers and Liberty. #FliptheFirst
“Flip the first” is a pol hack…NOW TO THE COMMENT.. Cassilly…clap…clap…clap…clap…clap…clap…clap…clap…clap….clap !
Ive been very satisfied with attorney general frosh and his common sense positions and decisions for the state of Maryland…
Yes……..Frosh is great if you want to repeal the second amendment; No thanks and say No to the Frosh power grab to unyielding power to investigate anything he likes without probable cause. How much and how many of your rights do you want to give up?
I agree. He has been very bipartisan, particularly in defending the Democrats’ fair and logical Congressional redistricting map.
We need to keep the checks and balances in place. No government position should be able to use their position to unilaterally usurp a political party’s biased agenda. Stop wasting my taxes on this nonsense.
Good article. Such a legal change would live in perpetuity. The general assembly should not rush to pass any legislation like this. The burden should be on AG Frosh to explain why his office needs more subpoena power. Even if you’re a Frosh fan, the next AG could abuse such unilateral authority.
Sounds like the AG is an Eric Sneiderman wannabee. Sneiderman is the infamous AG in NYS who starts investigation after investigation against national Rep candidates. The investigations are never taken anywhere as their propose is to demonize and meligein. TELL ME SOMETHING NEW !
Goebbels wrote in January 1941 “The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.” As such with untethered power Frosh can lie at will , creat facts for bolshiviks , gaslight and what ever political smearing he chooses at the behest od his deep state massa’s.
In this example the deep state trys to criminalize being Trump, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/12/532635888/attorneys-general-of-maryland-and-d-c-sue-trump-over-his-hotel
In this case again its IF ITS TRUMP IT MUST BE RESISTED. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-hogan-consumer-protection-trump-lawsuits-20180122-story.html
The bottom line is we should , instead of feeding the idiot parade, RECALL, IMPEACH, what ever avenue is available to remove an obviously mentally ill AG from office in MD.
OUR STATE NEEDS AN AG…not a DNC hack.
We currently have a comment awaiting approval…
A few nights ago comments were not posted…. we must assume they were not authorized opinions.
Sounds like AG Frosh is an Eric Sneiderman wannabee. Sneiderman is the infamous AG in NYS who starts investigation after investigation against national Rep candidates. The investigations are never taken anywhere as their propose is to demonize and meligein in the press.
Remove Frosh for trying this stunt. He is obviously mentally impaired over trumps election and this is a display of Frosh’s disdain for democracy.
This is the shortened and hopefully authorized version of my earlier comments which have been rejected thus far.
Donald J. Trump has “threatened the balance of constitutional powers & liberty” since the day that he was inaugurated, and I don’t see your extreme right wing ass blowing any smoke about him!
You’ve become a right wing partisan hack along the lines of Andy “boy” Harris.
What a shame, as I had such high hopes for you just four long years ago!
Now back your claim up. “Donald J. Trump has “threatened the balance of constitutional powers & liberty” since the day that he was inaugurated”. You cant !
Trump respects the courts and follows their orders…its simple fact…you are deluded.
He refuses to implement Russian sanctions as directed by the Congress. He swore to uphold the law that’s his job.
Remember the piles of papers to separate him from his business’s yea he hasn’t done that I cold go on but I have no delusions you will see reality.
You are referring to Baraks last instructions? Newsflash snowflake…BARAK IS GONE.
Once again the State of Maryland is trying to do away with Constitutional protections and limitations in favor of an Admiralty court system. If Maryland wants to do away with the covenants of the US and Maryland Constitutions, then Maryland needs to understand that it forfeits its powers and authorities granted in those same documents. Taxation is the most important thing to any State and if you defecate on the Constitutions, taxation should be permanently eliminated from its grasp. This is the only way to make a tyrannical government respect the wishes of the WE THE PEOPLE.
Frosh is a idiot. Ever since the dems gave him his personal slush fund of millions of dollars he has been on a law suit craze. I think he has 20 some suits against the federal government alone. Please, lets vote this self centered, arrogant little man out of office.
The Scrutinizer is disappointed at the Daggers censorship over the last few days. We would like you to post the 4 or 5 comments censored by you.
Censorship is what the Dagger does. However, some of your comments do go a little overboard. They censor me all the time for stuff that isn’t even close to some of the comments you have made recently. If you stay on here for a while, you’ll see that the Dagger censors certain words that are not profane or offensive. They censor me for using the term N-A-Z-I and S-O-C-I-A-L-I-S-T. Hell, I can’t even use my proper use of the Judicial Department’s actions as an O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-E-D C-R-I-M-E S-Y-N-D-I-C-A-T-E and a T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-T O-R-G-A-N-Z-A-T-I-O-N. If I typed those words without the hyphens, my whole comment gets censored. I guess I am hitting to close to home and the Judiciary spoke out to censor me. It may have even used an injunction or something, but I’ll never know……
If my comments dont meet the Buero of Post Content Approval’s standards….than why should I bother wasting my time. My comments are meant to inflame and upset. Meant to incite responses. If i want to hear the endless committee speeches i can listen to the next BOA meeting or watch MSNBC.