Justice Department prosecutor thrown out of court in brutal takedown

Another Justice Department prosecutor is facing off against an angry judge, and this time, he was thrown out of court.

“You have lost the confidence and the trust of this court. You have lost the confidence and the trust of the New Jersey legal community, and you are losing the trust and confidence of the public," said Judge Zahid Quraishi, an appointee of President Joe Biden in 2021.

According to the New York Times, the issue was that the judge grew frustrated with the Justice Department's head of appeals, Mark Coyne. It seems Coyne hadn't "formally disclosed that he would appear, and fiercely interrogated a more junior prosecutor about whether the former interim U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, still had some role in operating the office."

"Are you here for moral support? Because you're not going to speak," the judge asked at one point, according to the transcript.

"All right. So I've ruled. I'm not going to hear from you, Mr. Coyne. If you want to sit there for moral support or hand Mr. Rosenblum Post-its or whisper in his ear, I'll let you do that as supervisor," the judge said, referring to line prosecutor Daniel Rosenblum.

As the discussion continued and Rosenblum began speaking to the judge about why there were three U.S. Attorneys, Coyne stood to try and speak about Habba not working for the office any longer. The judge repeatedly told Coyne to "sit down."

"Sit down, Mr. Coyne. If you speak again, I'm going to have you removed. I already told you not to speak." Coyne tried to protest, but the judge continued to tell him to sit down, noting that he didn't file a notice of appearance before the meeting.

Finally, after a back and forth, the judge said, "I'm directing the court security officers to remove Mr. Coyne. Mr. Coyne, I told you not to address this court. You didn't file a notice of appearance. You don't get to blindside this court. I'm going to ask you to leave. I'm going to ask you to leave. Kindly, I'm going to ask you to leave, or I'll have you removed."

Habba was dismissed after the U.S. Senate did not approve her appointment before the deadline. She ultimately resigned in December after courts determined she could not legally sign onto cases.

Coyne was thrown out of court.

Last week, three leaders of the New Jersey office was found to be "occupying their positions unlawfully." Judge Quraishi demanded they appear next month to testify about what's happening in their office. The three-person team came from Attorney General Pam Bondi directly, who decided that the U.S. Attorney post would be occupied by three people. Judge Matthew W. Brann, the judge who disqualified Habba, found that the panel was unlawful.

There's a concern from Brann that “scores of dangerous criminals” could have their cases dismissed amid the Justice Department's disorganization.

The DOJ has faced off against several jurisdictions where it couldn't get U.S. Attorneys confirmed. One came from the Eastern District of Virginia, where the acting U.S. Attorney resigned. One was then installed, but only after the deadline to have someone confirmed. She, too, was found to be disqualified.

Some of the new DOJ lawyers have come under fire with ethics complaints from their state bar associations. In response, the DOJ proposed a new regulation that would suspend any state ethics proceedings against a current or former Justice Department lawyer without first conducting its own review, Democracy Docket reported last week.

The DOJ also clashed with a judge who threw out subpoenas of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as part of a criminal investigation the department lodged against him under U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.

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