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PENN AG TOM
CORBETT SHOULD EMPANEL GRAND JURY IN SESTAK AFFAIR
By DICK
MORRIS AND JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO
DickMorris.com
With a
Democratic Attorney General in Washington, a Democratic president, and both
houses of Congress solidly in Democratic control, it is obviously futile to
hope that the possible bribery of Joe Sestak to induce him to withdraw from
the Senate race against Arlen Specter will be fully investigated. But,
as the facts of this scandal grudgingly emerge from the White House and from
Congressman Sestak, there is an alternative way to pursue justice.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General, Tom Corbett -- who is the Republican
nominee for Governor this year -- has ample jurisdiction to convene a grand
jury to get to the bottom of the scandal and answer the key questions:
1. Who offered a job to Sestak?
2. What job was proffered?
3. And did the president know of the offer?
Corbett's
jurisdiction stems from the concept of universal jurisdiction, now accepted
virtually everywhere. The concept is simple. If someone on the
New Jersey side of the Hudson River fires a pistol across the Hudson and the
bullet from the pistol hits someone on the NY side, where did the crime take
place? For about 600 years, the answer would have been in NY, where the harm
was caused. Under the Reagan administration, and in response to urgings from
the Meese Justice Department, the courts began to accept the doctrine of
universal jurisdiction. This principle gives jurisdiction to law enforcement
in the place wherever any act occurred that may have resulted in a crime.
Thus, under our scenario above, the shooter could be prosecuted in NJ or NY.
Thus, if Cong. Sestak was in one of his homes, in PA or VA, when he
received a telephone call offering him a job if he withdrew from the PA
Senate primary against Sen. Arlen Specter, law enforcement authorities in PA
and VA -- both of which have Republican state Attorneys General -- can
subpoena Cong. Sestak to testify before a state grand jury and compel him to
answer the who, what, when, and where that everyone has a right to know.
The people of the United States and, particularly the people of
Pennsylvania, want these questions to be answered honestly. They will
not settle for a Democratic stonewall that refuses to let the truth emerge.
Under our federal system, we need not tolerate giving one party the
power to be the prosecutor, judge, defendant, defense attorney, and jury.
We can open the process to checks and balances.
Corbett should make
it possible for the truth to emerge by convening a grand jury and summoning
Sestak, Emanuel, and anyone else who may have been involved to answer
questions under oath.