A ‘higher standard’ of justice
A judge criticizes federal prosecutors for treating a mayor like an ordinary citizen
See update for May 23, 2025, at end of post.
If you had noticed a double standard of so-called ‘justice’ between that meted out to the rich and powerful and that meted out to everyone else, a judge just confirmed it.
According to the Washington Post, “’An arrest of a public figure is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action,’ U.S. Magistrate Judge Andre M. Espinosa told Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich during a virtual court hearing. ‘It should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate investigation of credible evidence.’”[1]
This, as the judge “granted [federal prosecutors] their request to dismiss its trespassing charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka” in a confrontation over a congressional oversight visit to the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. Two felony assault charges against Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey remain pending.[2]
Representatives “McIver, [Bonnie] Watson Coleman and [Robert] Menendez [Jr.] were at the Delaney Hall detention facility conducting a congressional oversight visit, which is permitted under federal law, when agents blocked Baraka from joining them.” They moved to surround Baraka when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents moved to arrest Baraka.[3] I’m not clear how that becomes assault, but fairly obviously, the agents, drunk on power, were being asses and none of this should go to trial.
But such is the nature of ICE these days, as I observed on a recent trip back from Canada.[4] And as the judge made clear, their mistake was treating the mayor (and I think by implication, the congressmembers) like ordinary citizens.[5]
Of course, sociologists will just roll their eyes. The discrepancy between how the rich and powerful are treated by the so-called “justice” system and how everyone else, but especially the poor and people of color, get treated is well documented.[6] And of course, one convicted rich and powerful felon[7] is now president of the United States.
“’The apparent rush in this case, culminating today in the embarrassing retraction of charges, suggests a failure to adequately investigate,’ Espinosa continued. ‘... Your office must operate with a higher standard than that.’”[8]
I thought and I think we’re all taught very early on that justice is supposed to be impartial between the rich and the poor and between the powerful and the powerless. I would have thought that that would be the “higher standard.”
Update, May 23, 2025: The Washington Post has examined numerous videos, including body camera footage, of the incident involving LaMonica McIver and was unable to determine the nature of her alleged assault, saying the evidence “confirms McIver made contact with at least two agents while in the turbulent scrum during that time, but it is difficult to discern the force of the contact and to what extent it was intentional or the result of the chaotic moment. In the instance when prosecutors allege she ‘slammed’ her forearm into an agent, he appears to take a step back but otherwise shows little reaction, videos show.”[9]
The charges against McIver are criminal; the standard for a guilty verdict will be “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It most definitely does not sound like the Justice Department has the evidence to sustain such a verdict.
[1] Shayna Jacobs, Jeremy Roebuck, and Liz Goodwin, “Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction’ of charge against Newark mayor,” Washington Post, May 21, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/21/mciver-baraka-newark-ice-court-charges/
[2] Shayna Jacobs, Jeremy Roebuck, and Liz Goodwin, “Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction’ of charge against Newark mayor,” Washington Post, May 21, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/21/mciver-baraka-newark-ice-court-charges/
[3] Shayna Jacobs, Jeremy Roebuck, and Liz Goodwin, “Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction’ of charge against Newark mayor,” Washington Post, May 21, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/21/mciver-baraka-newark-ice-court-charges/
[4] David Benfell, “Canada is now hostile territory,” Not Housebroken, March 30, 2025, https://www.disunitedstates.org/p/canada-is-now-hostile-territory
[5] Shayna Jacobs, Jeremy Roebuck, and Liz Goodwin, “Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction’ of charge against Newark mayor,” Washington Post, May 21, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/21/mciver-baraka-newark-ice-court-charges/
[6] Jeffrey Reiman, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 7th ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2004).
[7] Michael R. Sisak et al., “Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes,” Associated Press, May 31, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0
[8] Shayna Jacobs, Jeremy Roebuck, and Liz Goodwin, “Judge blasts ‘embarrassing retraction’ of charge against Newark mayor,” Washington Post, May 21, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/21/mciver-baraka-newark-ice-court-charges/
[9] Aaron C. Davis and Jonathan Baran, “Body slamming? Officer aggression? How an ICE clash led to charges against a congresswoman,” Washington Post, May 22, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/05/22/lamonica-mciver-congresswoman-charges-ice/