Indictment against Representative McIver upheld
Charges allege she attacked federal agents
By: Nicolas Katzban
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A panel of appellate judges declined to toss federal charges that Representative LaMonica McIver attacked federal agents outside the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility last year, [2025] saying they had no jurisdiction over whether she should face trial, only its outcome.
......
In a written opinion by Judge Cindy Chung -a Biden appointee - the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided on August 26 [2026] with district Judge Jamel Semper's ruling that McIver was not protected by the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause or legislative immunity in her alleged attempt to obstruct the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka by assaulting immigration enforcement officers at Delaney Hall.
... .. Pushing her way "past and forcibly striking someone are unambiguously non-legislative," the appellate court ruled in a 2-1 decision.
..... Judge Thomas Ambor wrote a "partial" dissent, saying McIver's position as a legislator hardly protects her from allegations she "slammed her forearm" into a Homeland Seleucid investigator and "grabbed" another agent's arm during their arrest of Baraka, but that constitutional provisions empowering Congress to check the balance of executive power were written "at the core" to protect legislative independence.
..... Ambro's minority opinion cautioned that McIver should be allowed further review of potential evidence of a politically motivated prosecution, "not only for heron sake but to safeguard the independence of our legislative bodies."
..... "Today's [08/26/2026] decision chills authority and emboldens the Trump administration to continue persecuting our most vulnerable communities," McIver wrote in a public statement after the order was issued. "We are exploring every possible option. The administration will not stop me form doing nay job or sanding for what is right. This is not over."
..... Paul Fishman, McIver's lead defense counsel, has repeatedly argued that Baraka's arrest was merely an effort by the Department of Homeland Security to disrupt, delay or prevent an oversight tour the congresswoman was undertaking to ensure that Delaney Hall met National Detention Standards.
..... If arresting the mayor was nothing more than a pretense to stymie McIver's rightful powers of oversight, then her attempts to question the arrest would therefore be an act of legislative duty, Fishman said in oral arguments before the appellate panel on June 24. [2026]
..... Semper denied Fishman's arguments because McIver's actions occurred outside the facility's gate, and therefore can be untethered from her legislative oversight of Delaney Hall. However the appellate court differed in its reasoning.
..... Although "investigating" the actions of the executive breach could constitute a legislate act, "phis call contact" against a Homeland Security investigator cannot, the panel found.
..... The judges also refused opt overturn Semper's opinion that ousted U.S. attorney Alina Habba was not politically driven in seeking the indictment against McIver and scuttled claims that the former prosecutor and Donald Trump appointee targeted McIver for criticizing Trump's immigration policies, in which according to recent remarks by the congresswoman, "cruelty is the point."