Bruce Green says despite a strong case, Attorney General Merrick Garland probably won’t appoint a special counsel to avoid accusations of weaponizing prosecutorial power before the presidential election. Read the full article here.
The lawmakers “provide a strong case on the facts for opening a criminal investigation of Justice Thomas,” Bruce Green, a professor at Fordham Law School and the director of the school’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, told Newsweek. “And, of course, allegations of criminal and ethical misconduct by a Justice should be taken seriously, because they erode the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.”
But Garland is unlikely to appoint a special counsel, Green said, because if he did so, he would face accusations of weaponizing prosecutorial power in the months leading up to a presidential election.
“That would undermine public respect for the legitimacy of the Department of Justice,” he added. “The Attorney General is unlikely to risk the legitimacy of his own institution to protect the legitimacy of the Supreme Court. He will leave it to Chief Justice Roberts and the other justices to keep their house in order.”
