“Null and void,” Judge Mary Rosado lawlessly declared of Mayor Adams’ executive order reopening an ICE office on Rikers Island, as she invented an entirely new “legal” standard to reach her desired conclusion.
That is, the problem was an “impermissible appearance of a conflict of interest” because she believes the mayor was simply out to please President Donald Trump.
An appearance; reality is apparently irrelevant in Rosado’s chambers.
The City Council sued to block the order, accusing Adams of a “corrupt bargain” with the Trump White House, yet failed to produce a shred of actual evidence of any such quid pro quo.
Rosado simply relied on a disgruntled US attorney’s resignation letter and Adams’ jocular joint televised conversation with border czar Tom Homan.
The judge also accused the mayor of ignoring rules for avoiding conflicts of interest and abuse of his office, while refusing to consider claims the Biden White House had waged lawfare on him after he dared to question its policies that sent violent transnational gang members flooding into the city.
Rosado had already sided twice with the council in temporarily blocking the order before Friday’s final decision.
Talk about “junk justice.”
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro was point on welcoming ICE back to Rikers; he fumes: “There is no actual conflict of interest, and I acted independently of the mayor. This executive order is about prosecuting violent transnational gangs and ensuring the safety of law-abiding immigrants.”
The city’s appealing; higher state courts certainly should reverse Rosado’s fact-free “fact-finding,” lest they increase the political weaponization of justice in New York.
Indeed, a functional justice system would see Rosado bounced from the bench.