Justice beholden to power is no justice at all

Two centuries ago, Andrew Jackson had a contentious relationship with the courts, purportedly declaring that “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Unfortunately, we seem to be there again today. This is how President Trump’s Justice Department, acting as the his functionary, is willing to engage with the courts. 

Before he left office, President Biden’s Justice Department indicted Gautam Adani, an Indian businessman extremely close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a gigantic fraud and bribery case. We cannot be sure exactly why the Trump administration now wants to dismiss the case, but we can guess.

Indeed, Adani, India’s wealthiest citizen, counseled by his attorney — who, coincidentally or not, is also Trump’s personal attorney — has offered to invest $10 billion in the U.S.  

And that is what is currently occurring in United States v. Adani, at the moment still pending in the United States District Court in Brooklyn, New York. The Justice Department has moved to dismiss the case. Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis has shown the temerity, in the government’s estimation, to ask why.

The government now claims that the no-nonsense Garaufis is engaging in a “judicial inquisition” by exercising his authority to assess the government’s motion. Curious, indeed, that the principal associate deputy attorney general, who signed the Justice Department’s filing to oppose the judge’s examination of the motion chose the word “inquisition” (used in its filing multiple times) with all its........

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