Federal judges' association calls emergency meeting after DOJ intervenes in case of Trump ally

Roger Stone.

'A national association of federal judges has called an emergency meeting Tuesday to address growing concerns about the intervention of Justice Department officials and President Donald Trump in politically sensitive cases, the group’s president said Monday.

Philadelphia U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, who heads the independent Federal Judges Association, said the group “could not wait” until its spring conference to weigh in on a deepening crisis that has enveloped the Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr.

“There are plenty of issues that we are concerned about,” Rufe told USA TODAY. “We’ll talk all of this through.”

Rufe, nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, said the group of more than 1,000 federal jurists called for the meeting last week after Trump criticized prosecutors' initial sentencing recommendation for his friend Roger Stone and the Department of Justice overruled them.

Trump also took a swipe at the federal judge who is set to preside at Stone’s sentencing hearing Thursday. . .

Tuesday, the federal judges are set to convene via a conference call involving 15 to 20 officers and members of the association's executive committee, Rufe said.

Founded in 1982, the 1,100-member association supports "a fair, impartial, and independent judiciary," according to its website.

Rufe said the group has not decided how it will report the result of its meeting, if at all. "We just could not wait until April to discuss matters of this importance," she said.'>>>

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/17/roger-stone-sentence-judges-worried-political-interference/4788155002/?