Name: Michigan AG Dana Nessel to feds: Don't call us; we'll call you
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Michigan AG Dana Nessel to feds: Don't call us; we'll call you

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Detroit Free Press State Attorney General Dana Nessel has a message for&nbsp;federal law enforcement agencies who want&nbsp;to help&nbsp;keep local demonstrations&nbsp;against police brutality from spiraling out of control:Stand down, guys. We&nbsp;got this.In a letter responding to what the AG's Office&nbsp;described as an FBI&nbsp;request for "information about the process to deputize federal agents to enforce Michigan State law&nbsp;in light of the current 'civil unrest across the country,' " Nessel's top deputy&nbsp;told the bureau&nbsp;that&nbsp;peaceful protests taking place in Detroit and other Michigan cities provide no justification&nbsp;for deputizing G-men."Introducing federal agents —&nbsp;unfamiliar with state law and local issues —&nbsp;into dynamic situations where emotions already run high could unnecessarily escalate already volatile situations,"&nbsp; AG Chief of Operations Christina Grossi wrote in a June 4 letter to the FBI's Detroit Field Office.Dickerson:Opinion:"For the time being, we believe local law enforcement agencies are best situated to determine how to manage these protests," Grossi said in her response to an email inquiry from&nbsp;Supervisory Special Agent Lauren Wheeler, a lawyer in the FBI's Detroit Field Office. "Thus, it is the position of the Department of Attorney General that, at least at this time, federal authorities should stand down unless and until local law enforcement agencies or the state of Michigan request your assistance."&nbsp;In a phone interview Friday afternoon, Nessel said her office has a long history of successful collaboration with the FBI, but added that she&nbsp;suspects the bureau's latest inquiry&nbsp;may have been prompted by the White House's hostility to&nbsp;demonstrators protesting the Trump administration's&nbsp;indifference to police violence.Nessel noted that the bureau had made no similar request after demonstrators who included armed members of&nbsp;right-wing militia groups marched on the state Capitol to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home orders last month.&nbsp;The AG&nbsp;called the timing of this week's request, which coincided with the president's&nbsp;threats to deploy federal troops in U.S. cities, "suspicious" and "worrisome.""It says to me that the federal government may be less interested in assisting local law enforcement than in punishing protesters because they oppose President Trump's policies,"&nbsp; Nessel said.Lauren Wheeler, the supervisory special agent who submitted the FBI's email request for information about the process of deputizing federal agents,&nbsp;didn't return my phone calls inquiring about her exchange with Nessel's deputy. Mara Schneider, a&nbsp;spokeperson&nbsp;for the bureau's Detroit Field Office, declined to elaborate on Wheeler's request.When I asked Schneider whether Wheeler's request for information about deputizing FBI agents had been prompted by a directive&nbsp;from the bureau's&nbsp;Washington headquarters or the U.S. Department of Justice, she directed me to spokespeople for those agencies. Neither had responded as of Friday evening.In general, states enjoy near-exclusive authority to enforce the laws enacted by their legislatures or local governments. Michigan law provides for federal law enforcement officers to make arrests&nbsp;only when they are enforcing a federal statute or court order, answering the distress call of&nbsp;a state or local law enforcement officer or agency, or responding to an emergency.In her response to Wheeler's email, Grossi said Michigan's continuing demonstrations against police brutality "do not appear to meet the statutory definition of 'emergency.'"These protests were neither sudden nor unexpected," Grossi wrote. "Further, the vast majority of protesters seem to be exercising their 1st Amendment Rights peacefully."Nessel&nbsp;conceded that federal law enforcement agencies could intervene without the state's permission in order to uphold&nbsp;a federal law or court order state authorities were reluctant to enforce, as&nbsp;the Justice Department did to enforce federal desegregation orders in southern states in the 1960s.&nbsp;She said federal agents could also intervene&nbsp;pursuant to the request of a county sheriff or municipal police chief, although&nbsp;local authorities would typically turn first to the Michigan State Police.In either case, of course, voters could hold the local officials accountable for their decisions to request federal intervention.My own surmise&nbsp;is that SSA Wheeler, an attorney assigned to&nbsp;the FBI's Detroit Field Office, was doing the sort of due diligence the bureau is&nbsp;expected to do in anticipation of all kinds of contingencies, but it seems equally likely that her inquiry had its origins in the president's transparent desire to&nbsp;pre-empt&nbsp;the authority of Democratic governors.&nbsp;It would hardly be the first time, after all, that some&nbsp;dedicated law enforcement professional doing her job was made to look like a shill in some ham-handed exhibition&nbsp;of executive&nbsp;machismo.Brian Dickerson is the Editorial Page Editor of the Free Press. Contact him at bdickerson@freepress.com.

Detroit Free Press State Attorney General Dana Nessel has a message for&nbsp;federal law enforcement agencies who want&nbsp;to help&nbsp;keep local demonstrations&nbsp;against police brutality from spiraling out of control:Stand down, guys. We&nbsp;got this.In a letter responding to what the AG's Office&nbsp;described as an FBI&nbsp;request for "information about the process to deputize federal agents to enforce Michigan State law&nbsp;in light of the current 'civil unrest across the country,' " Nessel's top deputy&nbsp;told the bureau&nbsp;that&nbsp;peaceful protests taking place in...

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Brian Dickerson

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

Michigan AG Dana Nessel to feds: Don't call us; we'll call you

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