It looks like the Biden Administration is making no exceptions in their plan to undo everything Trump accomplished. Biden has decided to dissolve another executive order Trump put in place. This time the order was set in place to make it easier for Americans to understand our laws so that they won’t break them. Biden apparently doesn’t like transparency and wants more Americans in jail.
“Among the orders worth retaining that Biden nonetheless axed is Executive Order 13980. That order required agencies that issue regulations with criminal penalties to “be explicit about what conduct is subject to criminal penalties and the ‘mens rea’ standard applicable to those offenses.”
That Latin phrase, mens rea, means “guilty mind” and refers to the part of a criminal law that specifies what level of criminal intent is required to violate it: knowing, willful, premeditated, etc.
The order recognized that executive agencies have promulgated “thousands of regulations, creating a thicket of requirements that can be difficult to navigate,” and sought to make sure that all regulatory criminal laws are “clearly written so that all Americans can understand what is prohibited and act accordingly.”
The goal was to spare Americans from unknowingly and unintentionally violating arcane laws and suddenly finding themselves branded as criminals and landing in federal prison.”
“The order was a victory for criminal justice reform advocates of all political persuasions. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Charles Koch Foundation, the American Conservative Union, and many other groups have been urging the government to clear up the mess of criminal laws that make it impossible for Americans to understand what the law requires and that can end up being traps for the unwary.
Unfortunately, with a stro ke of his pen but not a word of explanation, Biden—who campaigned as a criminal justice reformer—just ended this long-overdue criminal justice reform that Trump delivered.”
I get Biden didn’t like Trump, but this order has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with bettering Americans. We need to know the laws so that we can abide by them. Trump was just trying to ensure that, but I guess Dems want to keep us in the dark.