Yesterday, Senator Adam Schiff put a hold on the nomination of acting US Attorney for DC Ed Martin to hold the position personally. And the reason was … allll the reasons.
“For the past nine weeks, Ed Martin has consistently undermined the independence and abused the power of the U.S. Attorney’s office in DC – openly threatening and intimidating political opponents, dismissing charges against his own clients, firing public servants for their roles in legitimate investigations, and using his office as a cudgel to chill dissent and free speech,” Schiff said in a statement announcing the hold.
Martin, a former “Stop the Steal” protester who never prosecuted a case before being tapped to lead the biggest prosecutors shop in the country, keeps inventing new ways to be bad at his job. Whether he’s menacing Georgetown University for doing THE DEI, or sending harassing notes to congressmen for mean words, or vowing to protect Elon Musk from unethical meanies, or getting laughed out of the room by a federal magistrate for trying to get a warrant without probable cause, he’s a maverick of batshittery.
In the past month, he came up with three novel ways to abuse his office!
First, he’s got a spiffy new plan to withhold police misconduct reports from courts.
In a publicly posted letter to “Dear Blue,” he announced that he is “rewriting our policy for our Lewis List” to “stand up in court against the ‘public defender service’ (PDS) and anyone who maligns our officers for sport or advantage unfairly.”
As the Washington Post reported, this is a reference to the “Lewis List” of cops who are under investigation or have been found liable for misconduct. The list is functionally a “Do Not Call” list, since the misconduct or allegations must be disclosed for impeachment purposes under Brady, as well as a 1979 DC Circuit ruling. But Ed Martin seems to think that all that disclosure stuff is optional. (Or maybe he’s never heard of it.)
“USAO will no longer allow judges or others to gratuitously damage your careers because of the outsized impact of inexact characterizations,” he blustered, ending with a promise to “DEFEND THE POLICE. That’s what this USAO will do.”
Then the president put out the all-call for some more outside the box legal thinking.
Martin, who seems to think that his job is mostly about sending mean letters, hopped to it. According to the New York Times, he’s been sending queries to Bidenworld figures demanding details about pardons issued during the presidential transition period. This is part of a concerted effort to attack the pardons on the theory that President Biden was too checked out and/or signed them by autopen.
And then Monday, he tweeted out a promise to investigate Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand Democrat from Texas, who dared to push a right-wing reporter’s phone out of her face.
What a cool and fun way for the acting US Attorney for DC to learn about the Speech or Debate Clause!
Let’s go now to Senator Schiff for comment:
He is unfit to serve as a lawyer, let alone one with the resources – and cover from the Senate – to further twist the power of the law and law enforcement to go after Americans who stand up for the rule of law and for our democracy. With all of the power I am afforded as a United States Senator, I intend to place a hold on his nomination and block attempts to jam through his appointment at every stage.
Ooooh, he’s going to get such a nasty letter …
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
The post Adam Schiff Freezes Ed Martin Nomination For AYFKMRN?!?! appeared first on Above the Law.
Yesterday, Senator Adam Schiff put a hold on the nomination of acting US Attorney for DC Ed Martin to hold the position personally. And the reason was … allll the reasons.
“For the past nine weeks, Ed Martin has consistently undermined the independence and abused the power of the U.S. Attorney’s office in DC – openly threatening and intimidating political opponents, dismissing charges against his own clients, firing public servants for their roles in legitimate investigations, and using his office as a cudgel to chill dissent and free speech,” Schiff said in a statement announcing the hold.
Martin, a former “Stop the Steal” protester who never prosecuted a case before being tapped to lead the biggest prosecutors shop in the country, keeps inventing new ways to be bad at his job. Whether he’s menacing Georgetown University for doing THE DEI, or sending harassing notes to congressmen for mean words, or vowing to protect Elon Musk from unethical meanies, or getting laughed out of the room by a federal magistrate for trying to get a warrant without probable cause, he’s a maverick of batshittery.
In the past month, he came up with three novel ways to abuse his office!
First, he’s got a spiffy new plan to withhold police misconduct reports from courts.
In a publicly posted letter to “Dear Blue,” he announced that he is “rewriting our policy for our Lewis List” to “stand up in court against the ‘public defender service’ (PDS) and anyone who maligns our officers for sport or advantage unfairly.”
As the Washington Post reported, this is a reference to the “Lewis List” of cops who are under investigation or have been found liable for misconduct. The list is functionally a “Do Not Call” list, since the misconduct or allegations must be disclosed for impeachment purposes under Brady, as well as a 1979 DC Circuit ruling. But Ed Martin seems to think that all that disclosure stuff is optional. (Or maybe he’s never heard of it.)
“USAO will no longer allow judges or others to gratuitously damage your careers because of the outsized impact of inexact characterizations,” he blustered, ending with a promise to “DEFEND THE POLICE. That’s what this USAO will do.”
Then the president put out the all-call for some more outside the box legal thinking.
Martin, who seems to think that his job is mostly about sending mean letters, hopped to it. According to the New York Times, he’s been sending queries to Bidenworld figures demanding details about pardons issued during the presidential transition period. This is part of a concerted effort to attack the pardons on the theory that President Biden was too checked out and/or signed them by autopen.
And then Monday, he tweeted out a promise to investigate Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand Democrat from Texas, who dared to push a right-wing reporter’s phone out of her face.
What a cool and fun way for the acting US Attorney for DC to learn about the Speech or Debate Clause!
Let’s go now to Senator Schiff for comment:
He is unfit to serve as a lawyer, let alone one with the resources – and cover from the Senate – to further twist the power of the law and law enforcement to go after Americans who stand up for the rule of law and for our democracy. With all of the power I am afforded as a United States Senator, I intend to place a hold on his nomination and block attempts to jam through his appointment at every stage.
Ooooh, he’s going to get such a nasty letter …
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
