Republican AGs ask court to uphold states' rights to remove 'ideologically motivated prosecutors'

Fifteen Republican state attorneys general are asking a federal appeals court to affirm states’ authority to remove "ideologically motivated prosecutors."

The effort is being led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who with the other attorneys general made the request with an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 11th Circuit.

"The States all depend on local prosecutors to faithfully enforce state laws," the brief reads. "Those prosecutors have considerable discretion to decide whether to prosecute violations in particular cases.

"They do not have the power to effectively repeal laws by categorically suspending enforcement. In recent years, however, ideologically motivated prosecutors have abandoned prosecutorial discretion in favor of prosecutorial abdication." 

Conservatives and others appear increasing concerns with what the consider prosecutors with progressive policies that have resulted in an increase in crime, particularly in major U.S. cities. Among those policies are not pursing minor crimes and allowing those arrested to be release from jail before trial without having pay a fee – known as a "cashless bail" policy.

In the brief, the attorney generals argue that states have a right to defend their constitutions against local prosecutors if the prosecutors aren't enforcing laws they dislike and are essentially wielding a veto power over lawfully enacted legislation.

“A world in which each prosecutor is free to ignore the law in favor of his or her own individual sense of what the law ought to be is a world where what will get you arrested depends on who's in office – a government of individual prejudices, not a government of laws.," Yost said in a press release. 

Other attorney generals that filed this briefing include the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.