Dozens of clergy and faith leaders will hold a rally at the federal courthouse today condemning the Department of Justice’s objection to the presence of clergy at U.S. Senator Bob Menendez’s trial last year.
The interdenominational New Jersey Clergy for Social Justice is expected to rail against a DOJ allegation that “public prayer and the presence of clergy” exposed jurors to “undue extrajudicial pressure,” according to a media advisory.
On Friday, Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias attacked the DOJ for suggesting that Menendez’s lawyers “racialized” his first trial, and that jurors were able to see Menendez and members of the clergy holding prayer circles in the hallway of the federal courthouse.
“Let’s play pretend,” Elias tweeted. “If the Holder/Obama DOJ had said in a court document that (former Virginia Governor) Bob McDonnell had “’racialized’ the case by appealing to white jurors, and objected to McDonnell praying with clergy in the hallway, what would be the reaction?
Elias challenged political leaders to speak up.
“Are folks on the left and the right really OK with this?” Elias asked.
