The town’s Legislation Division won’t symbolize Mayor Adams or his administration within the Metropolis Council’s lawsuit towards him over an government order that might enable federal immigration authorities on Rikers, in response to court docket papers filed Wednesday.
“The New York City Law Department has advised that they will not be representing any party in this litigation,” Allison Stoddart, the mayor’s chief counsel, wrote within the letter to the Manhattan Supreme Court docket clerk final night time.
That is an uncommon transfer by the Legislation Division, which usually represents the mayoral administration, together with in circumstances introduced by the Council. Spokespeople for the Legislation Division and the mayor didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The mayor, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and the town’s Division of Corrections will as an alternative search exterior counsel, Stoddart wrote. It’s unclear whether or not the town will cowl the price of exterior attorneys to symbolize the administration or in the event that they’d must by some means foot the invoice themselves.
The Council sued the administration on Tuesday, claiming that the order was unlawfully issued by Mastro because the “poisoned fruit” of a corrupt quid professional quo cope with the Trump administration. They’re asking for the court docket to rescind the order and block the administration from permitting ICE on the advanced.
“I cannot recall a single instance in which the Law Department elected not to represent this mayor, or prior ones, when that officeholder was sued in his official capacity. The only rational conclusion that can be drawn from this remarkable decision was that the Law Department as an institution could not stand behind the Mayor and the First Deputy Mayor’s actions,” the Council’s lawyer, Jason Otaño, wrote in a response.
Randy Mastro, Mayor Eric Adams’ choose to be the town’s subsequent prime lawyer, is pictured answering questions from the Metropolis Council throughout listening to Tuesday, August 27, 2024. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Day by day Information)
Stoddart’s letter referred to as the lawsuit “premature” since ICE has not truly moved into Rikers workplace house but, as there’s not a memorandum of understanding between the town and feds that might formalize the choice.
She wrote that the administration needed to maneuver ahead on placing collectively the formal settlement, and provided to offer “notice” to the Council earlier than that settlement turned efficient.
Otaño referred to as that supply “legally meaningless.”
Mayor Adams has been extensively accused of coming into right into a corrupt discount with the Trump administration. After being indicted on federal corruption costs in September, Adams’ attorneys pleaded his case to Trump’s Division of Justice, saying the case impended his capability to hold out the president’s immigration agenda within the metropolis.
The signal on the entrance to Rikers Island is pictured on April 6, 2023, in Queens. (Barry Williams for New York Day by day Information)
The DOJ moved to dismiss the case in February, and the choose within the case dropped the case earlier this month.
The council’s go well with argues that Adams had agreed to a quid professional quo with the Trump administration, agreeing to trade the Rikers order for the feds working to drop his case. Adams has denied any quid professional quo exists. Mastro’s signing off on the order didn’t change that, the Council argues.
“The mayor’s decision to have Mastro issue the executive order … does not magically cleanse the taint of conflict from the order,” reads the petition.
In the meantime, the mayor’s’ authorized protection belief is greater than $3 million within the unfavorable after Adams didn’t obtain a single contribution within the newest reporting interval, leaving him with an enormous debt to cope with at the same time as he celebrates the dismissal of his federal corruption case, his workforce disclosed in a Tuesday night time submitting.
Initially Printed: April 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM EDT
