Next week, members of the House Judiciary Committee will be taking a field trip to New York City. They will set up a “field hearing” at the Javits Federal Building in Manhattan and the primary subject of inquiry will be Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. But rather than questioning Bragg directly, the committee members will hear from members of the community who have been directly impacted by rising crime rates and Bragg’s soft-on-crime enforcement policies. There’s no question that Bragg has been an absolute disaster as a District Attorney as far as I’m concerned. But is this really a good idea? Aside from generating some headlines, what can the federal legislature really accomplish in terms of local and municipal issues? (From Julio Rosas at Townhall)

The House Judiciary Committee is planning on hosting a field hearing in New York City next week to highlight the rise in crime and how criminals walk free under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is currently working to prosecute former President Donald Trump after upgrading a misdemeanor to a felony.

The hearing will take place at the Javits Federal Building…

Bragg’s office has often worked to reduce felonies involving serious crimes into misdemeanors.

Alvin Bragg’s radical pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime in New York City.

Next week, the Judiciary Committee will examine these policies during a field hearing in Manhattan.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 10, 2023

Despite Bragg’s obvious failures in office and the crime problems plaguing the city, law enforcement is typically a bottom-to-top chain in this country. Unless we’re talking about the DoJ investigating federal crimes committed by someone in Gotham, the performance of police officials and prosecutors are concerns for the Mayor in the city and the Governor at the state level. I’m not seeing any direct congressional involvement here doing anything but blurring the lines when it comes to states’ rights.

Jim Jordan and the GOP majority on the House Judiciary Committee have been doing some great work back in Washington and producing results. They are bringing serious problems to light and addressing major issues that were almost entirely ignored (no doubt intentionally) while the Democrats still held the Speakership. But this action will not only take away time from their ongoing work but will easily be painted as a partisan expedition to directly go after a sitting District Attorney.

Further, it will be impossible to separate this field hearing from the ongoing saga involving the persecution of Donald Trump. By going directly after Bragg in such a public way, leftists will point to this as Jordan “weaponizing” the system against Bragg the same way that Bragg is using his position to damage Trump.

It’s also worth remembering that Alvin Bragg is, for better or worse, an elected official. The people of New York City chose him to be their DA and now they have to live with the results, including higher crime rates and embarrassing show trials. The committee can’t do anything about the crime rates aside from recommending changes to federal law enforcement funding. If the people become unhappy enough they can choose a new DA in the next election or possibly pressure the Governor to remove him from office prematurely.

I keep hoping that if the Democrats in New York screw up badly enough and make life too intolerable, the voters will rise up and replace them in office. But at least in New York City, that never seems to happen. They simply shuffle around the deck chairs on the Titanic and replace one liberal Democrat with another one. But none of this appears to justify the investment of time and resources for this field hearing. And at least from a political perspective, it could arguably make things worse.