When a state judge in Illinois was presiding over a political case in 2016, he became the target of a barrage of nasty insults posted online. They were posted by a woman named Priscilla Gray, but ProPublica now has new details on the real source: Ed Martin, an attorney who just happened to be the lead defendant in the case in question. He is now a prominent part of the Trump administration's legal team, serving as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia. ProPublica reports that Martin bought Gray a laptop and schooled her on what to write.
- "Call what he did unfair and rigged over and over," he wrote to her in an email. He even suggested wording: "That is not justice but a rigged system. Shame on you and this broken legal system."
- "Go slow and steady," he suggested. "Make it organic."
The case involved Eagle Forum, the organization founded by anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly. Martin had been running it before being fired by the board, and he was fighting back in court. The attacks began after the judge, John Barberis, handed Martin a setback. Martin appeared to be "deliberately interfering with a judicial proceeding with the intent to undermine the integrity of the outcome," Scott Cummings, a professor of legal ethics at UCLA School of Law, tells ProPublica. "That's not OK." Schlafly's daughter tried to get Martin charged criminally over the scheme, but a judge shot down the attempt. Martin did not comment to the outlet. (Read the full story, which details Martin's high-profile and controversial legal career, and how it's at least slowing down his full confirmation to the DC post.)
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