One of best all-time magistrate judges wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald, DOJ firing of Miami federal prosecutor is a ‘gut punch’ to the rule of law. Some snippets:
Until my recent retirement, I worked for nearly 19 years as a U.S. magistrate judge on our Miami federal trial court in the Southern District of Florida, where I had the honor to preside over a wide variety of criminal and civil lawsuits. Last week I read with despair – for our country – that acting U.S. Attorney General James McHenry fired one of Miami’s finest federal prosecutors, Michael Thakur. Did Thakur not do his job? No. Quite the opposite. Thakur, a Harvard College and Harvard Law School graduate and a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, was one of the best to appear before me and my colleagues on the bench. Intelligent, ethical, hardworking, with excellent judgment.
Assistant U.S. attorneys, who are career prosecutors, may only be fired for cause — not for a political reason. They are career civil servants who must fairly apply the law, “without fear or favor.” They serve under both Democratic and Republican administrations, as Thakur did. They do not “implement a president’s agenda,” but rather follow where the facts and the law lead them. During my years on the bench, I watched Thakur represent the U.S. in the courtroom and behind the scenes. Magistrate judges review countless sealed applications submitted by prosecutors investigating crimes, asking for government access to possible evidence. Thakur’s search warrant and similar applications were top notch, carefully prepared and supported by evidence and law. He displayed the same sound judgment in the courtroom as he prosecuted terrorists, foreign spies, narcotics traffickers, fraudsters and violent criminals.
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Our justice system is designed to protect against mistaken, incompetent or even corrupt prosecutors. The DOJ imposes high internal standards on its lawyers, which is another backstop against error. The standards are higher yet for investigations of political figures as the department imposes layers of review of those cases. The dismissal of brilliant, hardworking, conscientious career public servants like Michael Thakur is a gut punch. Thakur is ushered out the door, and the morale of his colleagues tanks. If such unjustifiable dismissals in the DOJ continue, we will no longer have the best among us, proud to serve and protect us. It will take generations for this country, and our institutions, to recover.
9 comments:
It’s not a firing. None of these dismissals are. This is a purge. Make no mistake. And every American should be concerned about it.
Doj is not independent from the executive. You can see why this magistrate judge never got bumped up. Trump can fire anybody in the executive branch for whatever reason
These unelected political lawyers tried to destroy the country. They failed spectacularly
I don't think Judge McAliley was questioning whether Trump had authority to fire Thakur. I think his point was that the firing was unjustified.
Does the Kool Aid taste good?
Trump/Musk are destroying our country day by day. Thanks to Judge McAliley for speaking up. The tragedy is more leaders are not.
Last I checked, Judge McAliley's pronouns were not "he/him/his." But I hear federal employees aren't allowed to note that in their signature blocks anymore.
Thank you Judge!
I wonder what flavor it is?
I think purge is probably accurate and I fear for what's to come. Thanks to Judge McAliley for penning this.
Also, interesting to see that in the firing letters to the young prosecutors at the DC USA brought on recently and tapped to work Jan 6 cases reference the lack of procedural protections while in probationary status. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-s-petty-purge-of-15-young-jan.-6-prosecutors (with links to the letters in the article).
Yet Thakur was fired (outside of probationary status) with complete flouting of the procedural protections. These people recognize the law required certain actions contrary to the ones they took. They chose to fire him illegally and will reap what they sow. I've got to imagine that in the judicial smackdown that will surely follow if Thakur or others challenges this, this complete, purposeful flouting of the law will not bode well. Nor will it before their bar associations; these "lawyers" who chose to flout legal civil service protections cannot argue they did not know. They know but don't care.
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