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Deadline: Legal Blog-Can Trump's Jan. 6 dismissals stop his DOJ from prosecuting a Democrat?
U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., cites the Trump DOJ’s sweeping dismissal of Jan. 6 cases as a reason to dismiss her assault case.
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/doj-lamonica-mciver-assault-case-jan-6-pardons-rcna225562
President Donald Trump began his second term by ordering blanket pardons and dismissals for his supporters who were charged for their actions on Jan. 6. But in doing so, did the president effectively end the subsequent prosecution of a Democrat before it even started?.....
McIver invoked the Jan. 6 dismissals in her motion to dismiss the case for being selectively enforced and prosecuted, as well as vindictive. “The Department of Justice’s dismissal of prosecutions arising from the January 6 attack on the Capitol — including those of more than 160 defendants charged with violating the same statute upon which the indictment relies here — is robust evidence of unconstitutional differential treatment,” her lawyers wrote.
They observed that the congresswoman’s alleged conduct was “manifestly less egregious than storming the Capitol, throwing explosives, beating officers with bats and riot shields, and spraying them with pepper spray.”
“There is a simple difference between this prosecution of Congresswoman McIver and the 160 cases involving assault against federal officers on January 6 that the Justice Department has dismissed: it is all about politics and partisanship,” her lawyers wrote, calling the differential treatment “precisely what the Constitution forbids.”....
So, the Jan. 6 cases that Trump dismissed and the precedent set by his own Jan. 6 case both play an active role in McIver’s case. In its forthcoming responses to her motions, it will fall to Trump’s DOJ to distinguish those dismissals and that precedent to keep the case against McIver alive.
McIver invoked the Jan. 6 dismissals in her motion to dismiss the case for being selectively enforced and prosecuted, as well as vindictive. “The Department of Justice’s dismissal of prosecutions arising from the January 6 attack on the Capitol — including those of more than 160 defendants charged with violating the same statute upon which the indictment relies here — is robust evidence of unconstitutional differential treatment,” her lawyers wrote.
They observed that the congresswoman’s alleged conduct was “manifestly less egregious than storming the Capitol, throwing explosives, beating officers with bats and riot shields, and spraying them with pepper spray.”
“There is a simple difference between this prosecution of Congresswoman McIver and the 160 cases involving assault against federal officers on January 6 that the Justice Department has dismissed: it is all about politics and partisanship,” her lawyers wrote, calling the differential treatment “precisely what the Constitution forbids.”....
So, the Jan. 6 cases that Trump dismissed and the precedent set by his own Jan. 6 case both play an active role in McIver’s case. In its forthcoming responses to her motions, it will fall to Trump’s DOJ to distinguish those dismissals and that precedent to keep the case against McIver alive.
This will be a fun case to follow