The Adams case is an existential crisis for the Department of Justice

Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg through Getty Images

Eric Adams’s case is now much more than Eric Adams.

This has always been a great important case, of course. Any accusation of corruption of the city mayor in the center of the universe automatically approaches the top of the list of priorities. But deep down, it was a case against a guy. Maybe it would be convicted and go to prison, maybe not. Life continues. Institutions remain intact.

But now, after days of public interference clicksThe Adams case has been done in a complete existential crisis for the Department of Justice.

It didn’t have to be so. If the interim attached attorney general Emil Bove (A friend and former colleague of mine) had announced that, after a careful examination of evidence and law, the leadership of the Department of Justice had concluded that the case was too thin and needed to be dismissed: well. I would not agree, the case is not a Walkover, but it is easily enough to proceed to a jury, and we would have had a complete discussion about whether Bove was correct. Then we would all have moved on, and the DOJ would have returned to work. Or even if Trump had forgiven Adams, the result would have been essentially the same: animated speech on a lousy use of forgiveness, and then with life.

Instead, Bove He told us Explicitly, it is politics. Devils with “without fear of favor” and “equal justice under the law” and other picturesque fiscal bromers; The Department of Justice exists to execute the will of the president and to enforce political discipline. If you don’t like it, you can leave.

I am not reading between the lines. Bove said it, directly. In his memorandum that instructs prosecutors in the Southern New York District to abandon Adams’s accusation, Bove wrote that his decision had nothing to do with “the force of evidence or legal theories on which the case is based” . Rather, the dismissal was necessary because that discomfort of corruption “excessively restricted the ability of Mayor Adams to dedicate all the attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime” in New York City, in the promotion of the agenda declared policy of President Donald Trump.

Cue the heroes of our history. SDNY SDNY SDNY Interim Danielle Sassoon – A former employee of Antonin Scalia and a member of the federalist society who had been installed in his role for The Trump administration Only three weeks before – He told Bove To go to the sand. In his renunciation letter, Sassoon settled meticulously that Bove with Adams was essentially a politician compensation That undermined everything that the DOJ represents. “I can’t accept looking for a dismissal driven by inappropriate considerations,” he concluded.

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Six other prosecutors continued with their resignations, including Do skten – Like Sassoon, without liberal resistance. Scotten’s letter is a jewel: “(a) The United States assistant would know that our laws and traditions do not allow us to use fiscal power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. If no lawyer from the president is willing to give him that advice, then I hope you eventually find someone who is a fool or sufficient coward, to present their motion. But it was never going to be me. “He hangs that in a glass showcase at the headquarters of the Department of Justice. (Probably after the current administration leaves, to be practical).

Bove did not love the response of his troops. In Burlona responseHe informed Sassoon that all those around him would be fired now, and that all would be internally investigated by the Department of Justice for good measure. (By the way: As part of the media, I encourage the Department of Justice to continue with this practice of moving in letters that immediately become public. I love transparency. Complaints.

Speaking of: Where the hell is Pam Bondi in all this? (You know: the new United States Attorney General.) Apparently he has been sliding, happily half aware of this case, as if it were a story he had looked on the Internet instead of a crisis inside his own home. When asked mid -week why the Adams case had not yet been dismissed despite Bove’s instruction, she responded“I didn’t know that it hadn’t yet retired.” (That is fun because I didand I am not the attorney general of the United States) and in a Fox News appearanceBondi again diverted, pointing to the defensive that he was in a different time zone. (I am not sure that I completely understand how the time areas work. Actually the same things are happening, it is only that the watches say slightly different things in which you are; it is not as if you enter an alternative reality). Any of the Bondi has a management. Problem (if she doesn’t know what is happening) or a discipline problem (if Bove is demolishing the house on her own).

Here is the fundamental problem with what Bove leadership and DOJ have done. They have promulgated and adopted a policy that it is perfectly valid to base the prosecution decisions on the political inclinations of the subject: Mayor Adams cannot remain under the accusation because it will help us promote our immigration policy agenda.

Imagine where that principle has. What happens if Adams, when the leadership of the Department of Justice asked him, had he said he does? No Support Trump administration immigration policies. Then, under the construction of Bove, Adams receives nothing. Apparently, Bove, and Bondi for her (perhaps deliberately), are perfectly well with this transactional approach. According to administration policies, Patinas. I do not agree, and he has returned to the criminal defense table. This is precisely what Sassoon meant when he referred to a potential compensation In your renunciation letter.

We will take it beyond Adams. What would happen if a mayor in Texas had been accused of, say, embezzlement? Would Bove agree with that result?

The mind is stunned by the implications. The governor is accused of fiscal fraud, but is on board with the anti-Gun initiatives of a Democratic president: the free pass. The senator is accused of bribery, but supports the efforts of a republican administration to reduce foreign aid: the dismissed case. Cop is trapped by excessive force and civil rights violations, but we need it in the streets to help with the president’s efforts to combat drug trafficking: charges fell. A true adherent to the Bove doctrine has to be perfectly well with all these results. You can’t choose.

This is not over yet. The Department of Justice has formally sent His motion to dismiss, signed by Bove and two brave non -political employees who clearly opposed the action, but were baked until they accepted, in a commendable effort to stop bleeding within the Department of Justice. Now, according to federal rules, the judge must decide whether to accept the requested dismissal. In general, this is obvious; When prosecutors request to dismiss a case and the defense agrees, it ends. But, as Sassoon pointed out in his letter, federal judges have the authority to reject a dismissal, and have done exactly that, although very rarely.

I hope the judge will give him a 2023 Designated who previously worked for the NAACP and ACLU, to demand an appearance in the Court and a complete explanation of DOJ for its motion of dismissal. From there, Judge Ho could differ the power of the executive branch to control his own prosecutions, or could take a position and refuse to dismiss the case. But even if the judge orders the case, he cannot force the Department of Justice to send lawyers to the staff. Good luck trying the case with anyone standing at the Table of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Two results are now true. Adams will not go to prison, or even face trial. And, more importantly, the leadership of the DOJ, specifically, Bove and his reviewed boss, Bondi, has inflicted a serious injury due to the credibility and institutional independence of the department.

Presidents have enormous power to reward and punish other public officials for their support or opposition to administration policies. That is political. But the prosecution must be out of the table, as Bove could silence. Otherwise, the Department of Justice becomes another political tool, only with agents carrying wives and weapons.

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