DOJ Designates New York City as an ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction'

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DOJ Designates New York City as an ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction’​

The designation comes after a memo from President Trump earlier this month threatening to cut off federal funds for cities​

What to Know​

  • The Justice Department designated NYC, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” under guidelines issued by President Trump earlier this month
  • Trump’s Sept. 2 memo directs federal agencies to minimize funding for designated cities
  • Federal grants account for billions of dollars of NYC’s annual budget, and the city has threatened to sue over any move to defund it
New York City is one of three places that “have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities,” leading to its designation as an “anarchist jurisdiction,” the Justice Department said Monday.

Rather than idle words, the designation has potential financial consequences. President Trump issued a memo earlier this month directing the DOJ to identify jurisdictions that, in its view, were not enforcing the law appropriately. Designated cities could lose their federal funding.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo minced no words in responding to the DOJ assessment.

“I understand the politics, but when you try to manipulate and distort government agencies to play politics, which is what the Trump administration has done from day one … this is more of the same," Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. “The president can’t supersede the law and say I’m going to make those funds basically discretionary funds, which is what he would have to do.”

“If they actually do this, we will challenge it legally, and they will lose once again," he added.

Trump’s Sept. 2 order gives the director of the Office of Management and Budget 30 days to issue guidance to federal agencies on restricting eligibility for federal grants for the cities on the DOJ list. Such grants make up a huge portion of NYC’s already strapped annual budget – more than $7 billion in fiscal 2021 alone, or 7.5% of the city’s projected total revenue.

In justifying its decision, the DOJ cited New York City’s rising gun violence, cuts to the NYPD’s budget, and moves by various district attorneys not to prosecute charges related to protests earlier this summer. Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington were also hit with the same designation.

“We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens," Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.

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My take on this is that it’s the job of the federal government to protect law-abiding citizens when no one else will. While it’s customarily the responsibility of mayors and governors to protect their city’s and state’s citizens, when they won’t do so, then the feds have just cause to step in and restore order.

The federal government is supposed to protect us from enemies within and without. Right now, these mayors and governors are the enemies of their people by allowing them to be injured and killed, and allowing their property to be damaged or destroyed, but lawless thugs running amok in the streets.

I don’t think defunding would be adequate. The riots and destruction would continued in spite of it. There needs to be some real law enforcement, and if the local police cannot or will not do it, then SOMEBODY has to!
 
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My take on this is that this is another Trump power grab, aided and abetted by Barr. I cannot wait for this long national nightmare to be over on 1/21/2021.
 
SouthCatholic1 said:
My take on this is that this is another Trump power grab, aided and abetted by Barr. I cannot wait for this long national nightmare to be over on 1/21/2021.
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So, you would prefer that things remain as they are with further destruction, violence and unbridled anarchy? Would you prefer that much of our country fall to these thugs, with no protection or recourse for innocent, law-abiding citizens?

SOMETHING has to be done, and the mayors of these cities under constant violent attack, and the governors of their states, aren’t lifting a finger to help. Meanwhile, the casualties mount while nonexistent or neglectful “leadership” just sits by and allows it (tacit approval, as I see it).

Don’t law-abiding folks have the right to live their lives in peace and safety within their own homes and businesses?

Don’t you think WE have any rights, at all? Silly question! Obviously, you don’t!
 
I live two miles from the nightly Portland protests. The overwhelming majority of protestors have been peaceful, contributing community members–nurses, architects, moms. Just people. The picture painted by Trump of mass-antifa mayhem is simply fraudulent. Most people are protesting because they believe Trump is infringing on citizens’ first amendment priveleges.
 
What about all those fires that are being set? And all that vandalism? And people being beaten up and shot in the streets? And invasions of private property by crowds gathering outside of people’s homes, often on their lawns? Are all of THOSE peaceful protests?
 
Hope the Trump administrations latest efforts to curb the violence in Democratic run cities helps.
 
This is authoritarian any way you look at it. Exerting federal power. Let’s bring those nameless, faceless, unaccountable, untrained “officers” from the Bureau of Prisons in.
 
rjo8 said:
How exactly is this authoritarian?
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He’s trying to do something the Constitution doesn’t allow him to do.

Congress is the branch of government with budget authority and determines how money is spent. The President can’t unilaterally intervene in that.
 
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rjo8 said:
Guess what Paul? That is why it will be held up in court. We have checks and balances. That is not authoritarian.
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Sorry, I’m unsure whether you agree with me or not.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
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rjo8 said:
They have ruled on sanctuary cities, not anarchist zones.
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Sorry, they ruled on the overarching issue of whether the President could withhold funds for any reason.

Congress has the power of the purse.

From one of the articles:

Broad executive-branch powers on immigration matters don’t include withholding money allocated by the legislative branch to pressure cities and states to comply with an executive-branch policy, said Judge Ilana Rovner, who authored the 95-page ruling.

“Such a concentration of power,” she said, “would allow tyranny to flourish, and our system of government is wisely set up by the Founders to foreclose such a danger.”

She added: “The separation of powers is a foundation of our government, not a formality to be swept aside on the path to achieving goals that the executive branch deems worthy. … The (grant) conditions imposed here are an executive usurpation of the power of the purse.”
 
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rjo8 said:
Well we will have to see what the courts say, which would never happen in an authoritarian regime which your beloved democrats want so much.
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They’ve already ruled on the issue, so it will be quick. I suspect this is a clumsy attempt at trying to bully the cities while playing to the Trump base.

I am not a Democrat. I don’t love them at all. If that was an attempted slur, it was ineffective.
 
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