The Volokh Conspiracy
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Jack Goldsmith on the Edward Martin Nomination
"The Case for Non-Confirmation"
Over at his Executive Functions substack, Jack Goldsmith urges the United States Senate to refuse to confirm Edward Martin for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. From the post:
Martin even in his temporary role has proven to be the most openly politicizing and weaponizing figure in the most politicized and weaponizing department in our history. If the Senate confirms him, it will be directly responsible for his foreseeably abusive actions as U.S. attorney. . . .
Martin had a long career in Missouri politics but has no prior prosecutorial experience. He popped up on the D.C. radar screen when he tweeted at 2:53 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, that he was "at the Capitol right now" and added that there was a "[r]owdy crowd but nothing out of hand."
Martin later represented Jan. 6 defendants. Yet after his appointment as interim U.S. attorney on Jan. 20, 2025, he dismissed charges against his own client, thus serving simultaneously as prosecutor and defense counsel in probable violation of his ethical duties.
Martin's other abusive activities as acting U.S. attorney are well known. Here is a partial list:
- He fired career prosecutors involved in Jan. 6 cases.
- He threatened to "chase … to the end of the Earth" not just people who had acted unlawfully, but "simply unethically"—a threat that is beyond his authority to make and is itself unethical.
- He has made "a practice of sending threatening letters announcing vague 'inquiries' into figures he feels have crossed Trump in some way, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.)."
- He is groundlessly using his office to question whether president Biden issued lawful pardons in his final days in office.
- He threatened Georgetown Law School over its DEI program without citing any legal principles.
- He conceives of his role as U.S. attorney primarily as one of "Trump's lawyers" fighting to "protect his leadership," as he made clear in connection with the case brought against the government by the Associated Press.
- He has engaged in other conduct unbecoming of a federal prosecutor on social media.
It is unclear whether Martin acted in these instances with pure political goals; or whether he does not understand the role of a U.S. attorney; or whether he simply cannot meet basic professional standards. Any of these explanations is disqualifying; all three could be true. . . .
I cannot think of any U.S. attorney nominee in my lifetime who embodies [Justice Robert Jackson's worries about federal prosecutors] more, and who is more likely to abuse federal prosecutorial power, than Edward Martin. And this wolf comes as a wolf. Martin has wielded prosecutorial power recklessly and openly while serving in a temporary role, during his Senate audition period; his actions will surely grow much more menacing if he is confirmed.
As they say, read the whole thing.
