Rosenzweig’s blog, which had caused such a firestorm in conservative media, had been defunct for over six years at the time of his firing. Most of its content was broadly apolitical, dealing more with travel, sports, and other “anodyne topics,” though Rosenzweig did share a series of critical observations about Trump and other political candidates. Rosenzweig, among other things, called Trump “mentally unfit” and a “white supremacist.”
A federal prosecutor who lost his job last year after criticizing President Donald Trump in a years-old blog has sued the Justice Department for violating his First Amendment rights.
According to NBC News, the lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of plaintiff Will Rosenzweig, a former prosecutor who was two weeks away from taking a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud case to trial when his blog was uncovered and shared by a conservative political commentator.
The commentator took screenshots of Rosenzweig’s blog, copied his LinkedIn URL, and made social media posts tagging senior Justice Department officials. Less than three hours later, then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Rosenzweig that he was being fired; he received the news while celebrating the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana with his family.
NBC News notes that Rosenzweig’s firing was part of a wider purge of long-time Justice Department officials. Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, conservative loyalists have worked to purge the agency of prosecutors, attorneys, and other career employees who had been tasked with investigating the president and his family’s finances.
Attorneys for Rosenzweig are seeking reinstatement, back-pay, and a court order finding that his firing was unlawful. The lawsuit characterizes Rosenzweig as a high-performing employee who received “consistent praise and awards” and was so effective in his role that, several weeks before he was fired, he’d been assigned a special parking space in recognition of his work.
“Will Rosenzweig was an excellent prosecutor who returned millions of dollars to the taxpayers by prosecuting healthcare fraud cases,” said attorneys Margaret Donovan, Daniel Fridman, and Adam Fels, who are representing Rosenzweig. “Yet the Department of Justice fired him on the eve of trial because, years ago as a private citizen, he published criticisms of President Trump. Since the current Department of Justice will not stand up for the First Amendment and the American people, we will. We look forward to vindicating Will’s rights in court.”
Rosenzweig’s blog, which had caused such a firestorm in conservative media, had been defunct for over six years at the time of his firing. Most of its content was broadly apolitical, dealing more with travel, sports, and other “anodyne topics,” though Rosenzweig did share a series of critical observations about Trump and other political candidates. Rosenzweig, among other things, called Trump “mentally unfit” and a “white supremacist.”
“Mr. Rosenzweig published the blog posts as a private citizen, before he joined the DOJ, and his commentary addressed matters of public concern,” attorneys for Rosenzweig said. “He did not make them pursuant to any official duty. Defendants terminated him because of that protected speech, or because of the political affiliation and beliefs they perceived from it.”
However, the political commentator who uncovered Rosenzweig’s blog—Natalie Winters—characterized Rosenzweig as “a rogue Trump hater” who couldn’t be trusted to execute his role under the new administration.
“The Department’s conduct rests on a single premise: a citizen must forever refrain from criticizing the government and its leaders to remain eligible to serve it,” the lawsuit alleges. “That rule would force every American who might one day serve to choose between speaking freely now and working for the government later. Conditioning public employment on political loyalty, where a party card rather than merit opens the door to a government job, is a way of life in Havana and Caracas. It has no place here.”
Sources
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