Scott Jennings

Opinion contributor

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is right: We are in the midst of a “constitutional crisis.” It has nothing to do with President Donald Trump’s jousting with Congress over subpoenas, however; the crisis is fully one of the Democrats’ making as they —unfortunately aided by special counsel Robert Mueller — continue to disregard the pillars of justice and fairness that have underpinned America since its founding.

House Democrats may soon hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over an unredacted version of the Mueller report. The redactions largely consist of grand jury material, which the law prohibits Barr from revealing because of rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

To appease the Democrats, Barr made an even more transparent version of his document available in a secure room at the Department of Justice that House members can view, but no Democrat — including Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler — has bothered to look at it.

Democrats plan to pursue a criminal contempt citation against Barr for failing to break the laws passed by Congress. I’d call it a kangaroo court, but I’m certain actual kangaroos are smarter than this.

Background:Pelosi says America in a 'constitutional crisis' over Trump stonewalling

Even worse, Democrats have again signaled that they intend to disregard the presumption of innocence for their political enemies. As Democrats bang the “obstruction of justice” drum stemming from Mueller’s defective write-up on the issue, Special White House counsel Emmett Flood made clear in a letter to the attorney general that Mueller has gone far outside the lane of what federal prosecutors are supposed to do:

“…'conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred’ was not the (Special Counsel’s) assigned task, because making conclusive determinations of innocence is never the task of the federal prosecutor.

“What prosecutors are supposed to do is complete an investigation and then either ask the grand jury to return an indictment or decline to charge the case. … Prosecutors simply are not in the business of establishing innocence any more than they are in the business of ‘exonerating’ investigated persons.”

Flood continues, quite correctly: “In the American justice system, innocence is presumed; there is never any need for prosecutors to ‘conclusively determine’ it. Nor is there any place for such a determination. Our country would be a very different (and very dangerous) place if prosecutors applied the (special counsel’s) standard and citizens were obliged to prove ‘conclusively ... that no criminal conduct occurred.’”

But since Mueller foolishly opened the door to disregard the presumption of innocence, shifting the burden of proof from the government to the accused, Democrats are shamefully running right through it because they just can’t stand Donald J. Trump.

Read more:Democrats offer roadmap on Barr, Trump and what comes next

We should have seen it coming. Last fall, the presumption of innocence was obliterated as Democrats demanded that any and all allegations against Brett Kavanaugh be believed, even as accusations against him crumbled. Democratic Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono forgot to hide the ball when asked about Kavanaugh’s claim of innocence:

"I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him…” Hirono terrifyingly said. Translation: Your politics determines your justice.

It is hard to take Democrats seriously about Trump defying the norms of the presidency when they are actively assaulting our justice system, hypocritically refusing to accept election results (see: Georgia), trying to eliminate the Electoral College and pack the Supreme Court.

Add that to Democratic attempts to obtain Trump’s tax returns (which serves no legitimate government oversight purpose) and Cory Booker’s plan to use the IRS to investigate the National Rifle Association, a Trump ally, and you can see the kind of a justice-less world Democrats are plotting should they win the White House.

Jennings:Democrats lie like the devil, and the media lets them get away with it

I’m old enough to remember when the IRS was forced to express its “sincere apology” for aggressively harassing conservative political groups during Barack Obama’s tenure; now, Democratic presidential candidates are openly promising tax punishment for their enemies, as freshman House Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly makes lists of the sorts of Republicans and rich people on whom she intends to raise taxes.

Democratic attempts to weaponize the justice system and tax bureaucracy recalls the story of Johnnie Mac Walters, who served as IRS commissioner under President Richard Nixon. When handed a list of “enemies” to be harassed, Walters famously refused the order. One wonders whether the next Democratic president will have more people like Ocasio-Cortez or Walters in their administration. Unfortunately, I think we know the answer. And it should scare the hell out of us.

Scott Jennings is a CNN Contributor and Partner at RunSwitch Public Relations. Reach him at scott@runswitchpr.com or @ScottJenningsKY on Twitter.