The White House Got ‘Overcriminalization’ Right
Reducing “regulatory overcriminalization” is a good thing. Do we really need mattress-tag policing?
Let’s celebrate the small wins.
Photographer: Alex Wroblewski /AFP via Getty Images
I’ve been hard on President Donald Trump during these onerous early months of his second term, but when he’s right, he’s right. In particular, his executive order on the reduction of “regulatory overcriminalization” pays welcome attention to a growing problem both parties have tended to ignore: the federal government’s race toward making everyone a felon.
Understand the point. Federal crimes are defined by Congress. Some are spelled out in the US Code. Most aren’t. Instead, they’re the result of rules adopted by federal agencies, which fill in the details themselves. Sounds reasonable, right? And it wouldn’t be a bad idea ... if there weren’t too many such administratively created rules and they were easy to find.