Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Federal Judges Association Calls for Emergency Meeting Following Barr Intervention
02/18/2020 12:00 AM Source: AAN by: AAN Staff 











A national association making up more than 1,000 federal judges is holding an emergency meeting today to address mounting concerns by the judiciary about the Trump administration and DOJ officials intervening in politically sensitive cases.

Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who heads the independent Federal Judges Association, said the group “could not wait” until its spring conference to weigh in on a deepening crisis that has enveloped the Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr.

“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” Rufe told USA TODAY. “We’ll talk all of this through.”

Rufe, nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, said the group of more than 1,000 federal jurists called for the meeting last week after Trump criticized prosecutors' initial sentencing recommendation for his friend Roger Stone and the Department of Justice overruled them.

Trump also took a swipe at the federal judge who is set to preside at Stone’s sentencing hearing Thursday.

Rufe declined to comment on the ongoing Stone trial while at the same time defending Judge Amy Berman Jackson's management of it.

The Federal Judges Association's meeting follows the submission of a group letter, signed by more than 2,000 Justice Department alumni, calling on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign. 

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