What Happens Next in the Eric Adams Case? It’s Up to One Judge.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. After a week of drama over the fate of Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment, including quid pro quo allegations against Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, the ball is in Judge Dale Ho’s court. Specifically, Judge Ho will have a hearing on Wednesday to determine whether to accept the government’s motion to dismiss the case against the New York City mayor, whose charges were dropped after Trump’s acting deputy attorney general and former defense attorney, Emil Bove, allegedly strong-armed the department into dropping the corruption charges against Adams in exchange for cooperation from the mayor on immigration enforcement. Last week, the Trump administration ordered Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to dismiss the charges against Adams without prejudice, in what was transparently another quid pro quo, this time with Trump: You help me round up undocumented immigrants, and I’ll make the charges against you disappear. By the end of the week, several other prosecutors had resigned, including the lead prosecutor on the case, who, not mincing words, called Bove’s reasoning “transparently pretextual,” and added that “any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.” He also added this closing shot: “If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion.