OPINION:
In his robotic, sanctimonious, no-questions-taken press conference last weekend, Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland said the Justice Department had no alternative to its unannounced, dawn-to-moonlight raid on Mar-a-Lago (“Attorney general’s attempts to defend Trump raid fail to quiet GOP attacks,” Web, Aug. 14). The urgency, he implied, was too great for any alternative, such as issuing a subpoena or working with the Trump staff.
Both the search warrant and the conduct of the Justice Department exude a lack of urgency. The warrant holds that the search can be made at any time up to 14 days after issuance. The warrant has checked the box allowing execution of the warrant from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., even though the form provides a separate box saying the warrant could be executed “at any time in the day or night because good cause has been established.” The Justice Department in fact held the warrant for three days before executing it, and the items it seized had been at Mar-a-Largo for 18 months.
It’s likely this is an invalid warrant. It permits seizure of “any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017 and January 20, 2021.” The Fourth Amendment says a warrant may not be issued unless it describes, with particularity, “the things to be seized.” The quoted language would include four years’ worth of all government records of any kind, local, state or federal, executive, legislative, judicial or administrative, foreign or domestic, classified or unclassified, whether or not protected by executive, attorney-client or other privilege. The warrant also permits seizure of all containers and boxes and “any other contents” found in any room or area in which there’s a single classified document.
This warrant isn’t particular. It’s a dragnet for a fishing expedition.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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