Dismissed with Prejudice

What does it say that the Bundys case was not only dismissed, but dismissed with prejudice, which means the government can’t reopen it. What does it say that it was an Obama appointed judge who did it? How bad was the government’s misconduct in the case, and if it was that bad, maybe the protesters had some justification for shaking their guns in the tyrant’s face?

“The government’s irresponsible and, at times, false proffers to this Court as well as its dismissiveness toward the defense inspires no confidence in the prospect of fairness,” they wrote. “A dismissal is necessary to remedy the constitutional violations, to preserve the integrity of this court’s processes, and to deter future misconduct. Anything short of a dismissal is tantamount to condoning the government’s behavior in this case.”

People can balk at an armed population being a check on bad behavior from the government all they want, but based on what I’ve read from this case, there were agents in the Bureau of Land Management who were itching for a fight, and when it looked like they might actually get one, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and backed down.

Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

– Thomas Jefferson

“Consent of the governed” doesn’t really have a whole lot of meaning if harsh language is your best defense. An armed society may be more messy, and more uncomfortable for some than one where everyone is at the mercy of government bureaucrats, but I much prefer a world where people have to think, and think hard, about whether or not to trample a minority interest under the public boot.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Some would probably be more comfortable if we were more like Germany or Sweden, but that’s not who we are, and like Jefferson, I hope we will never be.

9 thoughts on “Dismissed with Prejudice”

  1. If the feds had lost once, this could be excused as “jury nullification” or “sagebrush rebellion,” but four loses means that whoever the supervising assistant AG was for this needs to be facing an inquiry into the federal persecution of the Bundys. We had what is supposed to be the A-Team go up against a bunch of not very bright people and get their butts handed to them. Heads need to roll.

  2. I have come to the conclusion that without the citizen militia that came to the Bundy’s aid that they would have ended up dead a la Weaver or WACO

  3. It will be exceedingly telling; how will the usual suspects of the Left and the Press react to the Bundy decision?

    I predict: badly.

    1. No – they will just ignore it. It will get no coverage in the MSM.

  4. When a lawsuit is dismissed with prejudice, the court is saying that it has made a final determination on the merits of the case, and that the plaintiff is therefore forbidden from filing another lawsuit based on the same grounds. See also: dismiss, dismissal without prejudice

  5. Amazing. This is exactly why we arm ourselves. I think RAH is right- the people that came to back them up is what saved them.

    1. In all honesty, the “militia” involvement in the Bundy standoff may well have had even more of an impact than that: Plenty of people have spoken very publicly about “No more free Wacos”

      Remember, we are told that the OK city bombing was in retaliation for Waco/Ruby Ridge; If anyone thinks that a massacre at the Bundy Ranch wouldn’t have been used by someone to justify attacking federal agents, then I have a bridge to sell them…

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