But hope goes just as far, and the feverish desire among Democratic activists to honor Floyd’s life by passing federal legislation that would hold police accountable for cruelty and misconduct clashes with the reality of a polarized capital. While many Americans – including some Republicans – approve of the ruling in the Chauvin case, Republicans and Democrats are still struggling to reconcile perspectives on how to hold rogue officers accountable for their behavior, which poses serious challenges to the proposed legislation.
There is also a broader threat over the compromise efforts: the bitter political forces that are shaking the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, which could shatter the already limited scope for dual action. Republicans seeking midterm elections – and in some cases future presidential primary races – have a strong incentive to appeal to grassroots voters by adopting a hard line on law and order and demonizing Democrats as radicals who the police want to disregard.
Some Republicans may also argue that the claims of systematic racism in law enforcement are exaggerated because justice has been achieved in the Floyd case, and that therefore no action is necessary. This point of discussion is already emerging on Fox News.
In this brief moment of committee, it is also easy to forget that the GOP’s attempt to portray Democrats as a threat to law enforcement – mainly by inaccurately suggesting that they all support the radical calls to ‘defend the police’ , one of them was strongest weapons in the 2020 election and is likely to remain so if they enter the mid-term races in 2022.
Even President Joe Biden, who plans to advocate for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act during his speech at a joint congressional session next Wednesday, highlighted the political dangers for Democrats over policing during a private virtual meeting with civil rights leaders recognized in December.
GOP shows little appetite to move
Several Republican strategists warned Wednesday that dissatisfaction with the police – and the aversion to Chauvin’s demonic actions during his meeting with Floyd in May last year – should not be mistaken as a reason to support dramatic changes to police laws. in this country within the IDP base. .
Republican poll veteran Neil Newhouse said: “That does not mean there is support for a national effort to reform the police.”
“There may be bite-sized pieces that Republicans can go for, but 2022 is likely to be a lower-level election – a typical midterm election, which makes it a base election,” Newhouse said. ‘It’s hard to see how, after a compromise on an issue like this, one can help motivate your base, or even help get cross-voting votes. “Whatever bill the Democrats pass is likely to go too far for most moderate Republicans.”
Garland noted that the inquiry will look into whether the department is using excessive force and will also examine its policies on training, supervision and ‘use of force’. Biden also expressed confidence in the leadership of Vanita Gupta, who was confirmed as co-prosecutor general on Wednesday after Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski broke up with her party to support Gupta, saying she was concerned about the skill and experience available needed to help. “to eradicate unconstitutional policing and reform our criminal justice system.”
But executive power has its limits, and eventually Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that changing the laws in Congress offers the longest chance of reform.
Signs of Senate Hope
In the Senate, it appears to be a real attempt at compromise, led for Republicans by South Carolina’s Tim Scott – the only black GOP senator – and for Democrats by Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Still, Scott said the informal talks could take place in the next week or two. And Booker calls his Republican colleague an ‘honest broker’. California Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who drafted the House bill, said she believed Scott was sincere in seeking an agreement, and on Wednesday he came up with a possible compromise on qualified immunity.
“There is a way to place the burden of the department or the employer more than the employee,” he said Wednesday. “I think it could be a logical step forward, and as I’ve talked to Karen Bass over the last few weeks, is something the Democrats are very receptive to.”
Scott, who presented a less comprehensive bill than the one passed by the Democratic-led House, said changes to Article 242 language were ‘off the table’ for him.
Bass said on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” on Wednesday that it was worth considering Scott’s approach, but that police officers should be held accountable, in comments that seem to point to sharp differences with the South Carolyn.
“Qualified immunity and section 242 … it’s an important key component of the bill, and we need to make sure it’s there,” she said. “That’s why Derek Chauvin feels so cavalier about torturing George Floyd to death.”
Fixed points on key aspects
Any compromise on qualified immunity will have to be predicted with progressive and civil rights groups, who see it as essential to prevent decades of discrimination and brutality against black Americans.
Progressive Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York told CNN on Wednesday that the shift of accountability of police officers to their departments would not be acceptable. Reformers argue that police officers should bear individual responsibility for their actions.
“The crux of the problem is that it’s not just police departments as a whole – it’s officers who are allowed to act with impunity,” said Damon Hewitt, acting president and executive director of the impartial Civil Rights Advocates Committee.
“Is there anything that is a counterbalance to stop them doing the kind of things Derek Chauvin did? Liability to the police department would, in my opinion, be insufficient to do so,” Hewitt said.
Proponents of maintaining qualified immunity say that stripping it will cause officers to hesitate in sudden, dangerous situations when violence may be necessary and when failure to act could endanger them or civilian bystanders.
“Officers are performing important tasks that, under intense circumstances, require second-hand decisions,” Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida said during a debate on the George Floyd Act before entering the House in March. Gimenez argued that the removal of qualified immunity would lead to officers retiring and making the community less safe, as it is ‘impossible for them to do their job’.
But while the debate, led by pro-Trump flamethrower Jim Jordan of Ohio, for Republicans, contained some principled arguments about the bill, it also filled with partisan policies that could undermine the Senate’s compromise. .
“What this bill is ultimately doing is defending the police,” said Republican Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida. He uses a keyword used by Trump and conservative news polls to advance his hard-hitting “law and order” story during the 2020 presidential campaign. “You say it’s a reform bill. I say it’s BS”
Terry Sullivan, a longtime Republican strategist and partner of Firehouse Strategies, said it remains to be seen whether leaders within the two parties can offend their members to go beyond the current dynamics that have caused so much paralysis in Congress, which he described as an all or nothing game “where” you would rather have a problem hitting your opponent over the head “than achieve a partial victory on the policy.
“This is a perfect example of the bigger problem right now in Congress,” Sullivan said. “If the choice is between the short-term political victory and the long-term policy objectives, the short-term political victory almost always wins.”