In an article for Salon published Sunday, writer Sophia Tesfaye argued that the appointment of Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., the "face of President Donald Trump’s new law‑and‑order regime," is backfiring.
The article noted that so far, her time in office has been marked by grandstanding and symbolic arrests — tactics that courts have repeatedly dismantled.
Tesfaye asserted that the federal takeover of D.C.’s law enforcement apparatus "is little more than theater with essentially no legal foundation." She added that Pirro, plucked from Fox News for her loyalty and ratings, has prioritized aggressive messaging over prosecutorial substance.
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The article further highlighted that Pirro’s team “whiffed on three cases alleging defendants assaulted federal agents," and the New York Times has pointed to her office’s struggle to match her bombastic rhetoric given the exodus of career-level prosecutors and staff.
Tefaye also noted that Pirro resorted to enlisting military lawyers to backfill massive staffing shortages, with 90 prosecutors and 60 support staff reportedly missing. This has overwhelmed the D.C. federal courts, used to six new cases per week, now inundated with six or more per day, pushing trial dates into 2027 and forcing judges to hasten hearings under pressure.
Tesfaye also spotlighted the infamous “Subway sandwich slinger” case: Sean Charles Dunn, who threw a sandwich at an agent during a protest, became the target of a felony assault charge. Pirro’s office clearly aimed for dramatic impact—but the grand jury refused to indict not once, but four times in a single month, reducing the case to a misdemeanor.
"The sandwich case was meant to be a show of strength; instead, it is serving as a symbol of the administration’s superficial posturing," Tesfaye wrote.
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She added: "With Trump’s installation of shock troops like Pirro to carry out his ideological retribution under the banner of justice, judges and juries are now functioning as the final guardrails in the near-total absence of resistance from the Republican-led legislative branch. Thankfully, over 200 court orders have blocked Trump’s policies, including at least 120 rulings within the first 100 days alone."
