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President Obama Appoints Cop Killer's Lawyer to Civil Rights Commission
by ALADS Board of Directors
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President Barack Obama made one of the final moves of his presidency appointing Debo Adegbile
, the lawyer for convicted
cop killer
Mumia Abu-Jamal
, to a six-year term on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In 2014, President Obama's attempt to appoint Adegbile to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was rejected by the United States Senate, with eight Democratic Senators among those opposing his confirmation.
For those not familiar with Debo Adegbile, he represented Abu-Jamal in the appeal of his conviction and death sentence for the 1981 murder of 25-year-old
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner
. Officer Faulkner
was on patrol around 4:00 am and had stopped a vehicle driving the wrong way down a one-way street. During the stop, Officer Faulkner called for back-up and a police wagon to transport the driver. While Faulkner's back was turned, the driver's brother, Mumia Abu-Jamal, ran toward the confrontation from a nearby parking lot. Abu-Jamal then opened fire on Officer Faulkner, who was able to return fire. Officer Faulkner was struck several times, and was killed. Officer Faulkner's gunfire wounded Abu-Jamal.
Trial testimony later revealed that a .38-caliber revolver registered to Abu-Jamal was found at the scene with five spent shell casings. Abu-Jamal, a member of the Black Panther Party, was sentenced to life in prison following the high-profile case, but his sentence was later reduced to life in prison without parole.
Law enforcement groups and Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) have rightfully decried the appointment with one police union official calling it a "kick in the teeth to the cops."
John McNesby
, president of the Fraternal Order of Police's chapter in Philadelphia called the appointment "Obama's goodbye present to police across the nation." "That's just the old kick in the teeth to the cops." McNesby said that he saw the appointment as "payback to the FOP" and vowed that he would push the incoming Trump administration to fight it.
"This was definitely payback to the FOP through the appointment," McNesby said. "This guy was Mumia's sugar daddy through the appeal process--he did everything and financed the whole thing. "I don't know whether he can be un-appointed, but that will be one of our first orders of business when we go down and meet with the new administration in January," he said. "I don't know whether that can be done, but we are sure as hell going to try."
Adegbile's
six-year term
does not require congressional approval. Mr.
McNesby guaranteed that his members would be outraged when they heard about the appointment and raised the possibility that the incoming Trump administration could shut down funding to the Commission on Civil Rights over the appointment.
The International Union of Police Associations, a member organization of the AFL-CIO, also condemned the appointment on Friday. Sam Cabral, the union's president,
said in a statement
, "President Obama has, once again, gone out of his way to demonstrate his utter disdain for our nation's law enforcement officers."
The antipathy of President Obama towards law enforcement has been reflected from his first days in office all the way through this appointment. From his earliest days in office, when he
accused a Cambridge police officer
who was simply doing his job of "acting stupidly" and continuing with quick condemnations
of
use of force
immediately after incidents occurred, despite lacking knowledge of the underlying facts, President Obama has by his words and actions made clear his disrespect for law enforcement. Now President Obama has taken his final parting shot at law enforcement through his appointment of Debo Adegbile, a man,
found unfit
by the United States Senate to head the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, in large part because of his representation of a convicted cop killer.
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