This article provides a legal commentary on the constitutional implications of the prosecutorial veto in veterans treatment courts and gives practical guidance for judges and attorneys on how to avoid potential constitutional violations.
This article addresses the need for veterans treatment courts (VTCs) to safeguard constitutional rights, such as fundamental due process and equal protection, and to that end must adopt written policies and procedures about the VTC’s target population, implement objective eligibility and enrollment criteria, and eliminate subjective influences from enrollment decisions. The article describes prosecutor roles and responsibilities in VTCs; legal challenges to the prosecutorial veto; VTC-specific state statutes; and recommendations. The article notes how VTCs must also stay true to constitutional separation of powers, highlighting that when VTC prosecutors exercise a unilateral veto over a defendant’s enrollment in the VTC program, that individual’s constitutional rights are threatened. To avoid that threat to veterans’ rights, the article provides specific methods for encouraging the protection of veterans’ constitutional rights so that a prosecutorial veto becomes unnecessary.