Defense attorneys build mapping tool to track Justice Dept. “weaponization”

In response to a wave of complaints that the Trump administration is weaponizing the Justice Department against political critics, a national group of defense attorneys has launched a tool to track and map where that “weapon” has been deployed. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has posted an interactive tracking tool to enable attorneys and citizens to check for some of the controversial, unusual or unsuccessful attempted prosecutions by the Justice Department in the first year of Trump’s second term. The online tool, which is being supported pro bono by a group of attorneys and legal professionals, includes some of the notable misfires by the Trump Justice Department. The mapping feature shows the rising number of cases in which grand juries rejected the Justice Department’s attempts to obtain indictments against Trump administration critics, Democratic public officials or protesters. The cases featured include the so-called “sandwich thrower” case, in which a Washington, D. C., grand jury rejected an attempt by the Trump administration to criminally indict a man who tossed a sandwich at a federal agent in 2025. The tool is designed to be used and shared by defense attorneys to monitor for controversial cases nationwide and asks them to contribute cases or learn from any examples. “What has been happening is so unusual and different that I felt that it needed to be brought to the public’s attention,” said Steven Salky, a D. C. attorney who’s helping to oversee the project. “I thought that this was a good way to help defense lawyers particularly federal defenders defend cases,” Salky said. “The Bill of Rights wasn’t written to be a polite suggestion; it was written to be a shield against tyranny,” said NACDL President Andrew Birrell of Minneapolis, in announcing the online tool. “What we are seeing in courtrooms from the Midwest to the coasts is a fundamental, righteous rejection of the idea that criminal law can be used as a tool for political retribution,” Birell said. “Jurors are seeing through these ‘novel’ and transparently thin theories. They are reminding this government that the people not the prosecutors hold the ultimate power in our justice system.” The tracker also contains cases in which the Justice Department was accused of “weaponized forum shopping.” In attempting to secure an indictment in Virginia against New York Attorney General Letitia James, for example, the department convened grand juries in three different cities: Alexandria, Richmond and Norfolk. The tracker illustrates references superimposed on Virginia inside a searchable map of the nation. NACDL said in rolling out the tool that its web database provides a “state-by-state visual breakdown of tracked cases and emerging enforcement trends.” The group is trying to help attorneys filter through cases nationwide, enabling them to search by alleged conduct, court, outcome and other case features. NACDL says its tool will provide access to key filings and judicial rulings “to support effective advocacy against novel, expansive, and aggressive theories.” A Justice Department spokesperson, in response to a request for comment about the new tracking tool, said, “We respect the judicial process and jurors’ role as impartial arbiters of evidence regardless of what the results may be and will not be deterred or distracted from keeping the American people safe.” The number of failed grand jury indictments tallied in the new database, including a controversial attempt by the Trump administration to prosecute six Democratic members of Congress this month, is unique in the history of the federal criminal justice system. A search of the database, which is continuing to be expanded, by Sunday contained 11 prosecutions in which the Justice Department failed to secure an indictment. Several of the cases were dismissed, the department is pursuing charges in the D. C. Superior Court in a couple of cases and in one the case against James the government has filed a notice of appeal. Former Justice Department prosecutor Brendan Ballou, who left the agency in 2025, told CBS News, “The fact that this tracker needs to exist speaks to the imploding credibility of the Department of Justice, where no bills were once extraordinarily rare. This is important work, and the information will help political opponents targeted in the future argue that they are being vindictively prosecuted.” Mark Zaid, a national security attorney who has represented whistleblowers and briefly had his security clearance stripped in retribution by the Trump administration, said the new web tool reveals the Justice Department’s broad effort at retribution. “The rebellion by grand juries across the country against the Trump administration’s political weaponization of the Department of Justice is unequivocal proof that large swaths of America prefer the rule of law over petty retaliatory agendas,” Zaid said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/defense-attorneys-mapping-tool-justice-dept-weaponization/

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