In Praise of Quiet Resistance
Flying under the radar is underrated.
A prosecutor in Florida announced that he would not prosecute women for having abortions or doctors for providing them. Then Gov. DeSantis promptly removed him.
I appreciate — no, I love — the sentiment of the prosecutor, but he’s no good to anyone if he isn’t in office.
Imagine a different scenario. What if that prosecutor had decided, without any fanfare or announcements, that he would never prosecute an abortion case, but kept this idea to himself? And what if — instead of some grand announcement — each and every time a case was brought to him, he simply declined to prosecute, by claiming there wasn’t enough evidence to secure a conviction?
Let’s say that he got away with this for some time, until someone noticed and asked why he wasn’t prosecuting abortion cases. What if he said something like “I know how important these cases are to the people of Florida, and I need to make sure we can win.” In saying this, the prosecutor pretends that he’s on board to prosecute these cases. In fact, he cares so much about upholding the law criminalizing abortion, he wants to be discerning about which ones he prosecutes, lest he start losing these important cases.
