NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams will face the federal judge on Wednesday who will decide whether to grant the Justice Department’s request to dismiss corruption charges against him after lawyers explain the abrupt change in position just weeks before an April trial.
Judge Dale E. Ho in Manhattan scheduled an afternoon hearing in a written order Tuesday as his first response to the government’s Friday request to dismiss the charges after a weeklong clash among government lawyers that led to resignations by several top prosecutors in Washington and New York who refused to seek dismissal.
Ho said the parties in the case must be prepared to address the reasons for the government’s dismissal request, the “scope and effect of Mayor Adams’s ‘consent in writing,’” … and the “procedure for resolution of the motion.”
At the start of his two-page order, Ho quoted from an opinion by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that said Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs the government’s request, was not created to shift absolute power from the Executive to the Judicial Branch but was intended “as a power to check power.”
The appeals court also wrote that the Executive Branch is “presumptively the best judge of whether a pending prosecution should be terminated” and advised that “pending prosecutions should not be judicially disturbed unless clearly contrary to manifest public interest.”
Ho also cited legal history noting that a judge has independent obligations once the government has involved the judiciary by obtaining an indictment or a conviction. And he quoted from one judicial opinion that said a judge must be “satisfied that the reasons advanced for the proposed dismissal are substantial” before approving a dismissal.
The hearing will occur as a growing number of former prosecutors express concerns about the past week’s events, with some calling on Ho to conduct an inquiry that could put Washington’s Justice Department leadership under a spotlight.
Late Monday, Justice Connection, which supports Justice Department employees, released a letter from over 900 former federal prosecutors to career federal prosecutors that said they have “watched with alarm” as values “foundational to a fair and justice legal system” have been tested in the past week.
In the letter, the former prosecutors said they “salute and admire the courage many of you have already exhibited. You have responded to ethical challenges of a type no public servant should ever be forced to confront with principle and conviction, in the finest traditions of the Department of Justice.”
The letter was released after three former U.S. attorneys from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut submitted papers to Ho suggesting that he appoint a special prosecutor if he finds the Justice Department acted improperly or that he order that all evidence be made available to state and local prosecutors.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to charges that while in his prior role as Brooklyn borough president, he accepted over $100,000 in illegal campaign contributions and lavish travel perks from a Turkish official and business leaders seeking to buy his influence.
The last week has featured an unusual public fight between Emil Bove, the second-in-command of the Justice Department, and two top New York federal prosecutors: interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon and Hagan Scotten, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan who led the Adams prosecution.
Bove wrote that the case had “unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime.”
On Thursday, Sassoon resigned, along with five high-ranking Justice Department officials. A day later, Scotten resigned, noting that Sassoon had properly resisted a demand that the charges be dropped and the possibility they could be reinstated after this year’s election.
“No system of ordered liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives,” Scotten wrote.
On Monday, Adams — amid calls to resign by some Democrats — confirmed that four of his top deputies had decided to resign in the fallout from the Justice Department’s push to end the corruption case against him and ensure his cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she is weighing removing Adams from office.