At 8:01 AM Pacific Time, former AUSA Barbara McQuade posted a notice on BlueSky that the entire Public Integrity section of the DOJ challenged, Survivor style, to decide which one of them would drop the serious charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
Harry Litman confirmed:
This follows the resignation of more than a few SDNY AUSAs who also refused to drop the charges against Adams after Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon resigned rather than drop the charges, along with at least six others. These are not liberal lawyers. Sassoon clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. And here's another one who clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts and also Brett Kavanaugh. Hagan Scotten's letter was scathing.
In the letter, he rips into Trump specifically.
"There is a tradition in public service of resigning in a last-ditch effort to head off a serious mistake," Scotten wrote. "Some will view the mistake you are committing here in the light of their generally negative views of the new Administration. I do not share those views."
He continued, "I can even understand how a Chief Executive whose background is in business and politicis might see the contemplated dismissal-with-leverage as a good, if distasteful deal. But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way."
And here comes the acid bath, well deserved. "If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give them that advice then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."
And with that, Scotten resigned.
These are Federalist Society lawyers with pedigrees putting them on a fast track to a judgeship and beyond. They're not going to worry about their next meal or whether they can pay the rent. They'll end up in a law firm somewhere and have distinguished careers no matter what.
It is heartening to see them put the law and U.S. Constitution ahead of their political beliefs.
The other day someone on Bluesky was complaining that the Trump administration would just keep breaking the law because they could. I said they were being defeatist, and that at some point, the lawyers would not be willing to do what he says because they value their bar cards more. And here is a shining example of that.
Danielle Sassoon laid it out in her resignation letter where she pointed out that not only was she unwilling to drop the charges, doing so would be unethical. Imagine that.
And as I write this, it appears that a career federal prosecutor has agreed to be the one to drop the charges, sparing his colleagues a bloodbath.
Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.
