Fordham Law Professor Bruce Green, director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, shared his expert legal opinion with The Christian Science Monitor on President Donald Trump’s latest accusations of what he believes to be a politically “weaponized” American justice system.
The Adams case has now landed in a Manhattan courtroom. On Wednesday, DOJ officials laid out their arguments before U.S. District Judge Dale Ho as to why they want to end the prosecution. It’s rare for a dismissal motion to be rejected by a judge – especially, as in this case, when both parties support it. But in some cases, judges have rejected such a motion because they felt it didn’t serve “the public interest.”
Judge Ho now must determine who is acting in “the public interest”: the DOJ leadership or the federal prosecutors who have resigned en masse. As the judge untangles the dueling narratives, one persists. At the Wednesday hearing, according to reports, Mr. Bove said the government’s discretion regarding the dismissal is “virtually unreviewable in this courtroom.”
“Now you have accusations [of weaponized justice] going back and forth, and it’s going to undermine public confidence,” says Bruce Green, a former Southern District of New York prosecutor.
“If you’re inclined to the Trump side of things, you’re going to have your suspicions of the previous Justice Department reinforced. If you’re [not], you’re going to have your suspicions of the current Justice Department reinforced,” he says.
“I can’t see how that’s a good state of affairs.”