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August 28, 2007

Senator Craig and the Ubiquity of Rank-Pulling

A
nn Althouse thinks the worst bit of the Senator-Larry-Craig-In-The-Airport-Bathroom story is that he tried to head the charge off by handing the officer his Senate business card and saying "What do you think of that?"

I find that piece of the story pretty ordinary. Back when I was in a federal prosecutor's office, it was common for prosecutors pulled over by state cops for moving violations to hand over their driver's licenses tucked inside their DOJ/USAO identity cards, in the unspoken expectation that the credential might persuade the cop just to issue a warning rather than a ticket. I never did this myself; I got one ticket while at the USAO from a New Jersey State Trooper but was too chicken (or was it honorable?) to try the license-in-the-identity-card gambit. I recall people bragging that the trick had worked for them, though. So I suspect that versions of the "do you know who I am?" ploy happen all the time, and that they are often successful for some kinds of offenses.

Posted by Eric at August 28, 2007 9:10 AM