Todd & Weld Attorneys File Amicus Brief on Behalf of Bipartisan Former Federal Judges and Former U.S. Attorneys in United States v. Letitia A. James Case
Todd & Weld LLP attorneys Howard Cooper, Joseph Cacace, Benjamin Wish, and Joshua Launer have filed an amicus curiae brief in United States v. Letitia A. James, currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The brief was submitted on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of former federal judges and former United States Attorneys.
The brief urges dismissal of the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James and warns that the prosecution, if as reported, represents a fundamental threat to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
“The Framers of the Constitution understood that the rule of law depends on prosecutors acting with neutrality and independence, free from political or personal influence,” said Howard Cooper, a founding partner at Todd & Weld. “When political power is used to direct or control prosecutions, it undermines both public confidence and the very foundation of our justice system.
”The amici, appointed by presidents from both major political parties, bring extensive experience overseeing thousands of federal criminal cases. Their unified concern reflects the Supreme Court’s recognition that prosecutorial power must be exercised “in a rigorously disinterested fashion.”
The brief highlights that if the publicly reported facts surrounding the appointment of Lindsey Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney and the indictment of Attorney General James are accurate, the prosecution appears to violate core constitutional safeguards, including the Appointments Clause, the Take Care Clause, and the doctrine of separation of powers.
The amici include notable former members of the federal judiciary such as Judge Nancy Gertner (D. Mass.), Judge Shira Scheindlin (S.D.N.Y.), and Judge J. Michael Luttig (4th Cir.), as well as former U.S. Attorneys Harry Litman, Barbara McQuade, and William F. Weld, who served as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and later as Governor.
This filing reflects an extraordinary alignment of voices from across the political spectrum and speaks to a shared conviction that the integrity of federal prosecutions must never be compromised by political motivations.
The Todd & Weld team’s brief reinforces the central premise that public confidence in justice depends on prosecutors acting independently and without political interference, a cornerstone of the American constitutional system.