Patriot Acts by David Baker

Author:David Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2022-10-11T16:15:09+00:00

19.

The Rubber Mallet Treatment………..

Judge Reuben Salazar cautioned the spectators in the courtroom gallery to remain quiet and to go out into the hallways if they needed to make deadline-related phone calls. The place was buzzing, in large part due to the presence at the counsel table of Attorney General Warren Handler. He, Peter Meadows and their new underling, Mr. Duda, were all whispering at the counsel table.

The tip of the hat to the press sounded odd to Barnacle, who’d never heard a Judge so openly acknowledge that a large chunk of the gallery was populated by journalists, who were about to hear something newsworthy.

Salazar had a stack of yellow legal pads piled up on the dais, with notes posted and loose pages stuffed haphazardly in the mountain of paper. He was flipping through looking for something in particular, and when he found it, he addressed the courtroom.

“I circulated an order this morning; I hope by now all of you have had time to read it. In it, I quashed both indictments against the defendant, Attorney P.J. Crump, the original charge under 16 US Code 1338 (a) (3), the so-called ‘Horse Flip-Off’ case, as well as the superseding indictment on the ‘Unlawful Re-Entry to the U.S.’ charge. As to the ‘Horse’ case, whatever the reason may be for that antiquated piece of federal busy-bodying still being on the books, I concluded it could not possibly apply to a commercial, privately-owned animal that simply happened by a Federal courthouse. As to the ‘Unlawful Re-Entry’ case, as a citizen, I remain mystified that the U.S. Attorney believes that the Federal Government can charge a citizen with the ‘crime’ of setting his feet upon American soil.”

Judge Salazar paused, put aside the stack of yellow pads, and continued.

“Which brings us to the business of today’s hearing. I sit today as a District Judge as well as a Judge for the Federal Court of Claims, for this aspect of the case. As you know if you’ve read my order of today’s date, I’ve concluded that both prosecutions were not only groundless, but that each was retaliatory in nature. These ‘prosecutions’ were motivated beyond doubt by the Government’s and, specifically, the Justice Department’s desire to weaponize the federal courts against an attorney who, in the course of representing what is now a class of clients, has accused the Government, and, specifically the Stuggs Administration, of egregious wrongdoing.

“I’m not here today to pass judgment on those claims—that’s Judge Haverhorn’s job—but I am here to rule on the cross claims for sanctions and malicious prosecution, filed by Attorney Crump. While this process of assessing damages may seem purely mathematical, I want to emphasize that in the thirty-five years I’ve spent, first as a prosecutor, then as a Judge, I’ve never witnessed government behavior this unsettling. When the Government becomes a seeker of retribution against a Citizen, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office its instrumentality, I feel we’ve jumped off a cliff, one from which there may be no way to scramble back up the hill.

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