Without knowing the law, most of us had a gut feeling that the charges against Rick Perry were motivated more by left wing politics than any real law violations. Well, some very distinguished individuals, including no less a scholar than Eugene Volokh, filed an amici curiae in the case.
They contend that prosecution of the case violates the doctrine of separation of powers, that Perry is entitled to absolute immunity, and prosecutors are attempting to criminalize free speech. Those hyperlinks go to Volokh's blog at Washington Post and contain links to the actual briefs.
Get one side of a case presented by a good lawyer, and one might be tempted to agree with it. That's why judges and jurors get both sides before they render a verdict. But it's hard to argue with the logic presented by Volokh, et al.
This comes us by way of HotAir.com which concludes:
The unwashed masses may have had this one right from the very beginning in at least one regard. How can you take the Governor to court for performing a function of the job which is specifically spelled out in his duties? In Volokh’s learned opinion, you still can’t.
That same prosecutors' office successfully removed Tom DeLay from the political arena before their case got tossed out. So we'll have to wait to see how far this one goes in court and how much damage it does to Perry.
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