In a bizarre motion, a U.S. attorney in Iowa demanded that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit refuse to accept amicus curiae briefs from several prominent organizations, joined by law professors, former federal judges and prosecutors, in a highly publicized case involving allegations of serious prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Seeking permission to file these “friend of the court” briefs were the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Washington Legal Foundation. The government’s “resistance motion” claimed that the participation of these amici would not “substantially aid the court,” and “is an attempt to inject interest group politics into the case.” More likely, the prosecutor’s heavy-handed action to block the amici was a mean-spirited response to public criticism of the government’s conduct in the case, which, ironically, will probably only increase public attention to the government’s abuse of power.

The case involves the prosecution of Sholom Rubashkin, chief executive of a kosher meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa, following the largest immigration raid in U.S. history and the arrests of nearly 400 undocumented workers, one-tenth of the town’s population. In the ensuing media frenzy, including reports of worker abuses, the U.S. attorney in Iowa indicted Rubashkin for immigration-related offenses, but later dropped those charges in favor of allegations of bank fraud, for which Rubashkin was convicted.

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