&gt; So is there any legal recourse against the public servant who violates the law, if the law itself provides no penalties?<p>(1) By definition, if the law provides no remedy, there is no legal recourse;<p>(2) The law often provides remedies, either specific to the violation or more general, but there may be difficulties in securing them (e.g., many violations of people&#x27;s rights are, in fact, crimes by government agents. However, prosecutors are unlikely to pursue such crimes, especially if they were in support of executive policy rather than a rogue -- with respect to the leadership -- agent. Many also would generally open up civil liability under generally-applicable principals of law, but public officers and the public entities they work for may be able to assert various forms of governmental immunity to such liability.)<p>Ultimately, the remedies for bad behavior by government often must be political, rather than legal.