In a co-authored op-ed for the New York Law Journal, Fordham Law Professor Bruce Green, director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, comments on New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ lawyers trying to play on President Donald Trump’s skepticism about prosecutors’ impartiality.
“Witch hunt” has become the cri de coeur when political figures are prosecuted, but that accusation falls short when, as here, the prosecutor and the accused are both registered Democrats.
It has become routine for politicians to publicly question prosecutors’ impartiality. The latest to come under fire is Damian Williams, the outgoing U.S. attorney in Manhattan whose office indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams. What is most interesting, and perhaps unsettling, is the motivation for this attack. While masquerading as a court filing, Adams’ lawyers are trying to play on President Donald Trump’s skepticism about prosecutors’ impartiality to convince him to direct the U.S. Department of Justice to drop the charges.