JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Saturday, March 27, 2021

WHAT THE US ATTY SHOULD HAVE SAID

 This is NOT the statement of the US Attorney for the Southern District Of Florida who just resigned. You can find her statement here- a pabulum of "We did our best, I am very proud, we were tough on crime...yada yada yada (yawn) "  Nothing new under the sun. Won't be quoted as much as McArthur's farewell address: "Duty. Honor. Country... But I want you to know that when I cross over that river, my last conscious thoughts will be the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps." 

NOT the statement of the departing US Attorney:

When I accepted the nomination to be the first senate confirmed female US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, I had some soul searching to do. Would I want to be nominated by a man who routinely sexually assaulted women, bragged about grabbing them by their genitalia, engaged in a massive coverup to pay off a pornographic star that would result in his personal attorney going to prison, and was generally considered a sexist lout? 

Would I want to be a public servant nominated by Senator Joe McCarthy? Would I have accepted an appointment to be sheriff of Tuscaloosa Alabama by Governor George Wallace? Would I have deployed my officers to protect Wallace  as he stood in the door of the University of Alabama to bar entry to African American students seeking an education?  Is there is any job worth having where you have to accept appointment by a person who has no  concept of what General McArthur called "Duty. Honor. Country? By  a person who dodged the Vietnam draft and ridiculed soldiers who fought and died for their county? 

What about the ideals  of the Justice Department? Was I comfortable with a department who had gone from Attorney General Eric Holder's edict that line prosecutors did not have to indict every defendant for the most serious crime, to a DOJ under Jeff Sessions that sought maximum incarceration on every case? Was I comfortable with a DOJ that went back to prosecuting marijuana cases in the United States in this day and age?

How much are someone's principles worth versus a job they want? This was the choice I was confronted with. Of course one could say that being on the "inside" I could fight for the changes we all know are necessary. But in looking back over my term in office, I did no such thing. It was business as usual. "Follow the guidelines judge. Impose the minimum mandatory. Send the kid to prison for decades if you can. It is what we as representatives of the United States want for this marijuana case."  That's what my office did. We were tough on crime by golly. None of that "enlightened justice" crap for us. 

How did it feel to be a member of a government where the President of the United States believed the DOJ was his own personal law firm? Where the President fired the director of the FBI because he would not pledge his personal loyalty to the president instead of the country. Well let me ask you this- do you remember that FBI director's name now? (It was James Comey  if you forgot). He made a principled stand and what is he up to now? I served as US Attorney and now I have a big money career at a large law firm waiting for me. What does Coney get for his stand? What do principles buy you except a good nights sleep? They don't pay for a Condo in St. Barts and a private jet to fly you there. 

Of course if everyone stood up for their principles and refused to join a government run by a moronic fool who nearly killed us all by ignoring a pandemic then maybe we could all have forced some much needed change. But I am no fool. I was not going to put my neck out first. All that would have happened is that it would have gotten chopped off.  Sure Israel honors non-Jews who hid Jewish families during Nazism as the "Righteous Among Nations" but what if those people were discovered? They were sent off to concentration camps as well. Who wants that? 

I made no principled stand. I took the nomination and there was not one thing that President Trump ever did that made me consider resigning. In for a penny. In for a pound.  I towed the DOJ line and took criminal and prosecution and sentencing several steps backwards. I worked for a President who was impeached twice and inspired a group of white militant racists to storm the Capitol and try and stop the certification of Joe Biden as President. A President who in other words wanted a coup d'etat and bullied and threatened public servants in Georgia to try and "find votes" for him to thwart the will of the people. I walked into my office every day under the gaze of President Trump's picture and it did not bother me one bit. You all elected him. 

It was an honor to be your US attorney. At least it was for me. 


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Duty Honor County. Huh? You mean Country? (You typed County two more times)

James Coney? I thought it was Comey. But I may be wrong.

Rumpole said...

whatch you talkin about willis?

Anonymous said...

I guess you are not happy with Ariana. I was actually proud that she came up thru the state ranks rather then thru the ivy league and a white shoe firm. She also promoted former state court lawyers. Trump did v well with this pick. What u talkin bout Willis?

Anonymous said...

Guy writes amazing content. Better than anything I read in the herald or online. And your only response is there is a typo. Really?

Rumpole said...

I am sorry I was not clear. I guess the writing was more nuanced than I thought. What I am talking about is that people of principle should have refused to work for the former president. But lending your good name to his nasty actions, you legitimize him when what we needed to do was delegitimize him. The prosecutors who prosecuted Roger Stone and obtained a conviction and then resigned when the AG interceded and ordered them to seek a lower sentence- (something I agreed with by the way- a lower sentence) resigned out of principle. And while I disagreed with their sentencing recommendation for Stone, I admired their stand and their sacrifice of their job rather than sacrificing their principles. This is the type of moral character the former US attorney for Miami has not exhibited. Silence can equal acceptance. I know I turned down the highest paying job offer I had out of law school because of principle. Thousands of Americans made personal sacrifices to oppose the former president. She lent her good name to his administration. I wrote a post when she was offered the job that she should turn it down. And the former administration turned out to be much worse than we could have imagined. And she remained silent. Shame on her.

Pete Campbell said...

This was a swell post. Nobody uses the term swell anymore. Why?

Anonymous said...

You’re such a pinko-commie liberal hack. Trump may be a loud mouthed buffoon. But this country was running smooth as Murano glass prior to Covid. Say what you want about the AngryCheeto, but dont denigrate Ms. Fajardo because you don’t like her bosses boss. And those prosecutors that quit because of Roger Stone are a bunch of opportunists. They did this to get their name in the papers and join a big white-shoes law firm, whose partners pander to the DNC. Don’t be naive.

Rumpole said...

I am going to use a complex legal term here. You are a moron. This country was running smooth until 9/11; this country was running smooth until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor; this country was running smooth until the South left the north; this country was running smooth until North Korea invaded the south; this country was running smooth until the nuclear accident at 3 Mile Island.
Leaders do not blame their abject failures on things they cannot control. They seize initiative and lead the country out of harm's way. They keep a steady hand on the tiller and manage the crisis through rocky waters. Until this last president. All he did was moan it was unfair, it was not his fault, the Chinese caused it, it wasn't a big deal, it was no worse than the flu, masks were not needed, it would magically disappear by spring...summer...fall..the day after election day. 600,000 dead Americans later attest to his failure of leadership.
I also do not like Rudolph Hess's boss, which is why he was imprisoned and held responsible for not speaking up when his boss was elected chancellor of Germany. People have moral obligations to speak out against people like the former president. Some people made a moral stand...and then there are opportunists like the former US attorney. You've made your moral choice as well, in the boat labeled "Cowards". Enjoy the voyage. Just don't look in the mirror or you may throw up.

Anonymous said...

Yep, the post was right on. She was a certified bootlicker.

Anonymous said...

Fajardo was yet another political hack who had never tried to federal jury trial. She practiced divorce law with her husband and that qualifies her to be US Attorney? I hear that Judge Hanzman is one under consideration for the new US Attorney. He is exceptionally bright and one of the best trial judges since the late, great Ed Cowart. I would hate to lose him as our bench has to be one of worst ever and he is a shining light among the darkness and unqualified that wear the black robes because they can not make a living in the private sector. Like Aponte, little Areces, Gamaz and others

Anonymous said...

spot on , who is this guy to hate on this lady who has achieved so much at her young career. You sound like a basket case. I do not know a single lawyer who would have turned down that offer. Or turned down a fed midship for that matter. You run a popular legal gossip blog. She was the 1st female us atty for the souther district. You act like she was in the SS during World War II. Get a grib on bruh.

Anonymous said...

Rumpole: I determined not to read your tripe about three months ago, but decided to do so today. The wonderful thing about Democrats is that they are so much smarter than everyone else, and so much more virtuous as well. Your president is physically inadequate, intellectually inadequate, and morally corrupt. He has made millions in public office, has a son who has profited with his father's approval, and is perfectly willing to sell out our country to bring in needed votes for the Dems. The Dems were once the party of the worker. They are now the party of the labor union bosses who are willing to ignore the working man to maintain power. I for one care not about the poor from Central America. I care about U.S. citizens who will lose the leverage that they have to force big business to hire them as opposed to cheaper illegals.
Biden is willing to protect Cuomo while he thinks back fondly on the days that he used to sniff women and touch them in public. But that is O.K. because he is a virtuous Dem who now believes that it is O.K. to just print money you do not have.
We live in a big world, and the people that make it run, unlike people like you on the public teat, do not have to stay in this country and be raped financially. You think they will just stay and pay taxes. we will see. We will also see what happens in 2022.
Of course we get to shoot down the "racist, Jim Crow" filibuster used by the Dems 367 times over the recent past while used once by the Repubs, and used by that famous racist, Kamila Harris.
I will now wait for any relevant info regarding REGB or the criminal division to appear in the DBR, as opposed to readings your childish, biased tripe.

Anonymous said...

Chauvin's lawyer obviously did not watch Friday's webinar by HT Smith on opening statements. I have listened to half of it and I still do not know what the defense theory is.

Anonymous said...

So she's proud she looked the other way. Anther Republican hack bites the dust. Good riddance.

Rumpole said...

10:55 AM. I knew there was a reason the blog was feeling better, looking better and smelling better. Your absence. Do not do us any favors. Block the website. Stop reading. Immediately. And never ever ever come back.

Of course your statement sounds suspiciously like those Neil Rodger listeners who used to start out their phone call by saying "I never listen but I was going through the dial and happened on your show by mistake..."

So lets be truthful here. You read the blog every day. You click on the site several times a day to see what is new. And truly, we can live without you. As Neil would say, GET A LIFE.

Anonymous said...

"I for one care not about the poor from Central America." - Clearly a humanitarian through and through. A genuine adherent of such fundamental precepts as "All men are created equal" and "love your neighbor as yourself."

Joking aside, at least 10:55 is honest about being a jerk.

Anonymous said...

"I for one care not about the poor from Central America."

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

e pluribus unum