On Thursday Ronald A. Cass published “Power Failures: Prosecution, Power, and Problems“ in the Federalist Society’s Engage magazine. Cass discusses the expansive discretion afforded to prosecutors under the American criminal justice system in the context of particular examples of misconduct. From the conclusion:

Over the past few decades, the contours of our legal system have diverged sharply from conditions that made broad prosecutorial discretion defensible. Personal liberty and economic rationality, touchstones of our heritage and of our future, depend on preventing the sort of prosecution abuses that easily occur but cannot easily be corrected. Prosecutors can be generally respected, even applauded; crusaders can be admired, even lionized. But freedom to live, work, and play under predictable, neutral rules deserves a higher place in our pantheon of values. It deserves not just our respect but our protection. That would preserve what our founding generation gave us, what our “greatest generation” fought for, and what future generations should inherit.

Read the whole thing here.