Ensure the rule of law is applied equally to all people
A justice system is not credible if it applies power unevenly or relies on punishments that fall hardest on those with the least ability to push back. Strengthening the rule of law means drawing clear limits on the use of force, holding federal officers to consistent national standards, and ensuring that the government itself is bound by the same principles of fairness it expects from the public.
Project 2029 proposes actions that work in tandem to rebuild trust, curb abuses, and align federal practice with the basic expectation that accountability and proportionality should apply to every person, including;
Prohibiting the domestic use of U.S. troops for law enforcement purposes by issuing an executive order reaffirming and strengthening the implementation of the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385), except under the most narrowly defined and extreme circumstances.
Restoring and expanding Executive Order 14070 to mandate that federal law enforcement agencies ban chokeholds, restrict the use of no-knock warrants, and emphasize de-escalation techniques. This order also requires the use of body-worn cameras during arrests and searches, and establishes the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), a centralized repository documenting instances of federal officer misconduct to prevent officers with histories of misconduct from transferring between agencies undetected. This order must also be expanded to update the administration of federal public safety grant programs, including COPS grants and Byrne Justice Assistance Grants, to incorporate bonus scoring criteria for states that adopt these federal standards, thus incentivizing compliance.
Reforming ICE tactics to prohibit workplace and community raids, as well as raids conducted at or near sensitive locations, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, except in narrowly defined, pre-approved, exigent situations (i.e., apprehending those charged with a violent crime). This includes expanding the definition of sensitive location to include courthouses and agencies, given the current manipulation of legal immigration proceedings to entrap and arrest undocumented immigrants who have shown up to court intending to follow the legal immigration process.
Appointing an Attorney General committed to reissuing a moratorium on federal executions, drawing from the framework of the 2021 memorandum issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland. The DOJ bears a profound responsibility to uphold fairness, equity, and humane treatment in its application of the law, standards that must be applied with the utmost rigor in capital punishment cases. The death penalty continues to raise grave concerns; its application has been shown to be racially biased, inconsistently applied, and vulnerable to irreversible error, as evidenced by the troubling number of exonerations in serious criminal cases. Additionally, the use of drugs like pentobarbital has been flagged by medical experts as potentially causing severe pain, violating the 8th Amendment’s constitutional mandate to avoid "cruel and unusual punishment."
