Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Friday held off dropping criminal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Judge Dale Ho, a district judge in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, vacated the corruption trial scheduled for April 21 and appointed conservative attorney Paul Clement to present arguments challenging the DOJ's decision to drop charges.
Hu asked Clement, who served as solicitor general under former President George W. Bush, to file his arguments by March 7. Both parties are scheduled to meet for a potential hearing March 14, though Adams won't have to appear.
Ho, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said he would "endeavor to rule expeditiously" after hearing Clement's arguments, and potential counterarguments from the DOJ and Adams' lawyers.
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In a five-page ruling, he wrote an argument was necessary because the DOJ effectively took the same position as Adams' defense.
"Normally, courts are aided in their decision-making through our system of adversarial testing, which can be particularly helpful in cases presenting unusual fact patterns or in cases of great public importance," Ho wrote.
"Here, the recent conference helped clarify the parties' respective positions, but there has been no adversarial testing of the Government's position generally or the form of its requested relief specifically."
The judge held a hearing Wednesday in which the government and Adams' lawyers urged the court to dismiss the bribery case. They claimed it was stopping the mayor from helping with President Donald Trump's immigration agenda.
Adams testified there wasn't any quid pro quo with the Trump administration for dropping the charges of bribery, corruption, wire fraud, and soliciting and accepting donations from foreign nationals in exchange for helping Donald Trump's immigration agenda. New York is a sanctuary city, meaning it is required to limit or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement, including making arrests and sharing information.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, one of Trump's former personal attorneys, appeared at the hearing Wednesday. Eight federal prosecutors, including Danielle Sassoon, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned in protest last week after the DOJ ordered the New York office to drop the charges. Four deputy mayors resigned Monday.
Seven days ago, the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the case and all related charges against Adams though they could be reinstated after the election. The Republic primary is June 24, and Adams is seeking a second four-year term.
Bove said the motion to drop the case was not related to the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case was based.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday declined to remove Adams from office.
"Overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly," she said.
