According to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, “The White House, in coordination with the Department of Justice, has dismissed more than 50 U.S. attorneys and deputies in the past few weeks.”
One of those dismissed was Adam Schleifer, a career prosecutor in Los Angeles with an outstanding reputation as a fair and effective prosecutor. He got an email on March 28 from the White House telling him that on behalf of President
, he had been fired. He thought, at first, that it was a hoax; he had done nothing wrong. But, according to news reports, he quickly discovered that his phone had been reset and he could no longer use his office computer.
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Why was an unknown career prosecutor fired out of the blue? It might have been because he was in the midst of prosecuting a
donor, the former CEO of Fatburger, in a highly publicized case. Or it may have been because five years ago, when he took a leave to run for Congress in New York, he wrote on social media about his concern that then-President Trump was denigrating the rule of law. One hour before he was terminated, Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer and sometimes Trump companion, took to social media to attack Schleifer for a five-year-old message of his that praised then-Rep. and now Sen. Adam Schiff and criticized Trump.
Schleifer is a civil servant. As such, he is supposed to be protected from being fired for political reasons. If he sues, which I hope he does, he should be entitled to get his job back. But in the meantime, the message has been sent. Prosecute a Trump donor at your peril. Say anything critical of the president and you may be the next to go. Who wants to take that risk?
Random acts of intimidation send the message that no one is safe from this administration. And that message has not been limited to the firing of federal prosecutors. If lawyers who know their rights can be fired arbitrarily, what federal employee is safe? Every day, it seems, brings a new example of random acts of potentially unlawful intimidation that terrorize people.
Why was a Southern California couple who had lived in this country for 35 years and had three children who are U.S. citizens suddenly deported? They had not committed any crimes. The family cannot understand it. The newspapers offer no explanation. The message is sent. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
And what about the “administrative error” that sent a man who literally had a court order that he should not be deported to El Salvador to one of the harshest prisons in the world in El Salvador? And now the administration has the audacity to say that they cannot get him back? What message has been sent? That no one is safe. That even if you’ve got the law on your side, it doesn’t matter.
I’m a hopeless optimist. I have spent my life trying to uphold the rule of law. I believe in the courage of federal judges. I believe that at the end of the day, Chief Justice John Roberts and at least a majority of the Supreme Court will not allow this administration to ignore court orders and undermine the rule of law. But that will take time — and too much pain. In the meantime, through its random acts of intimidation, this administration acts like we live in a police state, and that’s how it feels.
This Susan Estrich commentary is her opinion. She can be reached at [email protected].
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