Court Opinion

ID: 9460094
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:40:55.986609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:28.354619
License: Public Domain

ROSS, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I reluctantly concur. The law, as capably expressed by Judge Matthes, leaves us no other alternative.
However, I cannot believe that it was the original intent of Congress that the Federal Government should take over the prosecution of every state crime involving fraud just because the mails have been used in furtherance of that crime. The facts in this ease show that this election fraud was purely a state matter. It should have been prosecuted in state court. The Assistant United States Attorney conceded in oral argument that the case was not the type of mail fraud case covered by written instructions contained in the United States Attorneys’ manual. In spite of this, the decision was made by the United States Attorney to prosecute the case without asking or receiving the approval of the Department of Justice. In so doing, he relieved the state of its duty to police the violation of its local election laws and helped create a precedent which will encourage the same sort of unwarranted federal preemption in the future.