The Outrage That Is Ed Martin

When I was going through the selection process for a U.S. Attorney, I was worried about my qualifications. I had been with the Justice Department for over 15 years. I’d spent a decade as a criminal prosecutor before moving to the office’s appellate division. There, I had become the office’s senior litigation counsel, and then the chief of the appellate division. I had tried a lot of cases and argued a number of cases in front of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. But I was still worried that I didn’t have enough experience for such an important job.

A U.S. Attorney’s duties are outlined in a law passed by Congress. The statute charges each of the 93 U.S. Attorneys nationwide with prosecuting criminal cases, defending the government (or sometimes prosecuting) in civil actions, and collecting moneys owed to the government. They are also charged with making “such reports as the Attorney General may direct.” U.S. Attorneys take on responsibility for a wide array of issues that impact the Justice Department nationwide, as well as our work with other agencies and with our communities. Most U.S. Attorneys come to the job with a lot of legal experience and some exposure to management—running the office is part of the job.

But none of that matters if you are Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, one of the largest and most important offices. Every nominee to be a U.S. Attorney has to submit answers to a document called the Senate Judiciary Questionnaire, which is used by senators during the advice and consent process. Martin’s can be found here, so you can take a look at how he presents himself.

Among his issues:

• Martin supported the “Stop the Steal” movement after the 2020 election. He moved to dismiss pending January 6-related cases as soon as he became the interim U.S. Attorney. He fired prosecutors who worked on the cases and launched an internal review to try to find misconduct, not that any had been alleged. He is investigating Justice Department prosecutors who brought charges against rioters, never mind that some of those charges included seditious conspiracy, defendants were convicted by juries, and convictions were confirmed on appeal.

• Martin has never been a prosecutor. Total lack of experience in that regard. Martin worked for a well-known firm, Bryan, Cave, in its Washington, D.C., office for just over two years before leaving to open his own firm. He provided senators with a description of his work that claims 40% of his practice was in litigation before being forced to concede that he has never tried a case. He claims some criminal defense experience, involving January 6 defendants, and he does something I’ve never seen before—when asked for his top 10 cases as experience for the job, he claims a case that is in the office he is currently leading on an interim basis. That suggests his level of experience is pretty slim.

• In his interim position, Martin has been making public comments that will impact cases, as in leading district judges to dismiss them. DOJ policy expressly prohibits prosecutors from suggesting a defendant is guilty before they are convicted. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Statements like this one, that Martin made on Twitter, are highly prejudicial and can prevent the Department from obtaining convictions in cases where the evidence would otherwise support them.

Then there is also the defense of vindictive/selective prosecution, which can get a conviction reversed. That’s usually a tough hill to climb, as we saw in the Hunter Biden prosecution, but Martin is a defense lawyer’s best friend in this regard. For instance, after reaching out—on Twitter—to express his support for Elon Musk and DOGE, he then suggested he’d prosecute anyone who got in their way. His negative comments about Democrats would taint any prosecution. Courts look harshly on prosecutors who engage in this kind of behavior. As Justice Sutherland wrote in a 1935 opinion, while a prosecutor “may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones.”

• Martin has used his office to threaten views that are different than those of this administration. For instance, Martin wrote to medical journals across the country, stating in one letter that “It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications … are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates.” He demanded a response to a series of questions “about misinformation, competing viewpoints and the influence of funders such as advertisers and the National Institutes of Health,” before advising the journal that “The public has certain expectations and you have certain responsibilities.” Martin is an interim U.S. Attorney, and if he had a legitimate criminal investigation, he could issue subpoenas for grand jury testimony. If he had a civil case, there are other investigative techniques. This letter is the work of a dangerous bully. Federal prosecutors don’t tell scientists what to believe and publish.

• Then there’s the antisemitism. Martin has a close relationship with Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a white supremacist who supports Nazi ideology and used to wear a Hitler-style mustache to work before his conviction in connection with January 6. Even after NPR formally advised Martin in a letter of Cusanelli’s beliefs, “In subsequent weeks and months, Martin continued to praise Hale-Cusanelli as an ‘amazing guy’ and ‘great friend,’ and they appeared at multiple events together.” Martin told the Senate Judiciary Committee in sworn testimony that he was unaware of Hale-Cusanelli’s Nazi sympathies before last August. But NPR reports Martin first interviewed him for his podcast in 2022, where he acknowledges following his January 6 trial, and they explicitly discussed the allegations of antisemitism against Hale-Cusanelli in a July 2024 interview.

Some reporters have recently suggested that Martin doesn’t have the votes for confirmation, which would be great. But Republicans have a way of doing Trump’s bidding. There is no need to look further than Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth.

Trump continues to attack the judicial branch of government and corrupt the Justice Department. That makes this more than just one U.S. Attorney in one office. In the words of Senator Adam Schiff, “No one embodies Donald Trump’s personal weaponization of the Justice Department more than Ed Martin.”

As Martin’s nomination proceeds in the Senate, the best thing you can do is write to your senator, especially if they are on the Judiciary Committee, and encourage them to reject this unfit candidate. There are plenty of Republican lawyers with experience who would nonetheless be delighted to get this plum job. Make sure your senator knows you're watching. Remember, Matt Gaetz is not the Attorney General. Small victories can be important. Let’s keep our eyes on this one.

We’re in this together,

Joyce

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