BTW, will we see you at Netroots?

He did not have all his evidence squared away on all the counts of other corrupt dealings. He would have preferred to continue to investigate but he must have heard enough to believe Blago was about to sell the seat, and he had enough probable cause on other counts to make the arrest and halt the sale of the Senator’s seat.

Another element of Fitz’s statement made an impression on me. He talked about lying in bed and worrying about Blago’s other corrupt dealing, specifically accommodating a business deal in return for the termination of a newspaper columnist. Fitz described that he was troubled about the columnist losing his job. If he acted he could keep that from happening.

That said, I would prefer if USAs and DA didn’t sell the merit of the charges by using colorful and/or morally judgmental language. The fundamental facts or the alleged crimes ought to do the trick.

The Boston USA published photos of city councilors allegedly taking bribe money in FBI sting operations. I was appalled to see the photos, which are evidence, on the front page of the Boston Globe. I think Federal prosecutors don’t want too many question when they arrest elected officials.

I hope Blago goes down and hard, but I think the statements were out of line and I don’t think Mikva was wrong to comment on them. A panel before the ABA isn’t quite the same as him, oh, maybe holding a press conference and getting it splashed on news at nine that a Fed Judge is in front of the press putting out an absolutist statement to the public on prosecutorial misconduct.

OTOH, pollution of a jury pool is so far down on the list of bad things the DOJ is embracing that I guess next to torture conspiracies it doesn’t really warrant much of a mention.

This is just a conjecture. but if the Judge is also dirty then finding any dumb problem to screw up the trail would be in his best interest.

Again just pure speculation.

Last time I showed up for jury duty (got many notices after that but trashed them), I said on the 4 voir dires that I got called for, that I would vote against the more powerful side because it held all the cards. It was federal grand jury in Manhattan. Wouldn’t have believed a word the govt said.

The ONLY way there is a delay this long is if the defense consents to it. This delay is ENTIRELY within the power of the defense.

The prosecution does not have the power to tdealy, only the defense does

Don’t have any problem with Mikva’s calling him on it. Prosecutors have the whole weight of the govt heavy hand on their side. If no one ever calls them on their missteps, you know, slippery slope and all that.