The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs board has this post:
President Barack Obama made one of the final moves of his presidency appointing Debo Adegbile, the lawyer for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, to a six-year term on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 2014, President Obama's attempt to appoint Adegbile to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was rejected by the United States Senate, with eight Democratic Senators among those opposing his confirmation.
Of course, simply representing a notorious criminal is not, by itself, disreputable or disqualifying. Criminal defendants have a right to counsel, and in capital cases that right extends all the way through habeas corpus review.* Lawyers willing to provide effective advocacy even for the worst among us are an essential part of the system. But the Abu-Jamal advocates went beyond the pale, as has been documented elsewhere. ALADS concludes:
The antipathy of President Obama towards law enforcement has been reflected from his first days in office all the way through this appointment. From his earliest days in office, when he accused a Cambridge police officer who was simply doing his job of "acting stupidly" and continuing with quick condemnations of use of force immediately after incidents occurred, despite lacking knowledge of the underlying facts, President Obama has by his words and actions made clear his disrespect for law enforcement. Now President Obama has taken his final parting shot at law enforcement through his appointment of Debo Adegbile, a man, found unfit by the United States Senate to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, in large part because of his representation of a convicted cop killer.
* More precisely, there is a statutory right to counsel on collateral review for death row inmates in federal courts and in the courts of most states, but not quite all. In 1996 Congress, on the recommendation of a commission headed by the late Justice Lewis Powell, set up an incentive system for the remaining states to establish adequate habeas counsel systems, but that system has so far been blocked by anti-death-penalty advocates and hostile courts. The incentive therefore does not exist.
Predicatably, considering the widespread popularity of "Black Lives Matter"
among Democrats/Media folk, here is an accusatory response to the
Senate's vote against Debo Adegbile [This is how they disagree, by
accusing opponents of racism]:
| 7 Democratic senators in Racist vote against Debo Adegbile |
by Radio Host, Thom Hartmann, Mar 7, 2014
~ www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2014/03/7-democratic-senators-racist-vote-
against-debo-adegbile; see also: democracynow.org/2014/3/6/senate_race_baiting_dems_joins_gop
"And, you know, at some point we have to say that Mumia was
lynched in the courts."
We should never forget that SCOTUS tolerated the abuse of habeas law by the Third Circuit which allowed "Mumia" off death row. Mrs. Faulkner endured years of torment and pain because her dear husband happened to be killed by some thug for whom leftists swooned.
When the history of the Supreme Court is penned, its tolerance of lawless decisions allowing capital murderers to escape justice will be one of the lowlights. We can all talk about an "august court" and that the Supreme Court cannot devote its precious time to righting every wrong, but the fact remains is that it tolerated (and often abetted) lawless injustices such as these.
As for Obama, he is a thoroughly loathsome creature. That he would make such an appointment shows what a reprehensible human being he is. From his minimizing the racial violence against Justin Barker in the Jena Six case to his Administration's smearing of Darren Wilson, he has shown himself to be a racial demagogue.
For all those who criticize Trump's intemperance (and worse), Obama's demagoguery is worse.