Friday, August 29, 2014

Shielding the Executioner: Shaun Cowley, Paul Cassell, and the Murder of Danielle Willard

During a lengthy career that includes stints as a federal prosecutor and judge, Paul Cassell has devoutly upheld the vision of 18th Century arch-authoritarian Joseph de Maistre, who taught that “all greatness, all power, all social order depends on the executioner.” The figure dispensing lethal violence on behalf of the state is both “the terror of human society” and the “tie that holds it together,” Maistre insisted. “Take away this incontrovertible force from the world, and at that very moment order is superseded by chaos, thrones fall, society disappears." For Maistre, the executioner is a high priest presiding over the arcane ritual in which lethal violence is transubstantiated into public order. Paul Cassell shares that view. Removing procedural impediments to execution has been one of two causes that have largely defined Mr. Cassell’s legal activism. The other is a campaign to overturn Miranda v. Arizona and the “Exclusionary Rule” buttressed by that decision. Cassell has distinguished himself by his zeal to allow police to brow-beat people into confessions, and executioners to ply their trade more energetically.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for making my breakfast churn in my stomach. This reads like something out of some dystopian novel. How do people with this mindset get up and be able to look at themselves in the mirror, and then actually feel good about themselves? He'd be right at home working for any totalitarian Gov't..

Anonymous said...

And he's no different than those who advocate for the death penalty. State power over one's body should never be granted.

Anonymous said...

Will Grigg proves on a weekly basis that the vast majority of gun owners who think the police are on their side are completely wrong. There might be some exceptions, but those are rare.

Police today behave far worse than the Red Coat occupying soldiers acting as police in the colonies.

Paul X said...

I wonder what their prospects will be when the Revolution comes?