A good marriage is about having each other’s back. A good judge knows how to maintain impartiality (or remove themselves from matters where they can’t be neutral). Usually these two boats pass each other in the night, but every once in a while you get a power couple that, by nature of their stations, is tested by circumstances. Put plainly, you can’t encourage prosecutors to hurry up a trial just because the guy in trouble is your husband. Law & Crime has coverage:
A New Hampshire Supreme Court justice who is married to a long-embattled state official has been indicted for interfering with a criminal investigation into her husband.
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The indictment charges that [Justice Anna Barbara] Hantz Marconi told “Gov. Christopher Sununu that an investigation into Geno Marconi was the result of personal, petty, and/or political biases; that there was no merit to the allegations against or subsequent investigation into Geno Marconi; and/or that the investigation into Geno Marconi needed to wrap up quickly because she was recused from important cases pending or imminently pending before the New Hampshire Supreme Court.”
She was indicted on a series of offenses — two of them were felonies: attempting to commit improper influence and criminal solicitation of improper influence.
This isn’t the first time that judges have used their influence to thumb the scale. Earlier this year, a judge was caught blessing officers to commit some light §1983 violations and Eric Adams is in a lot of trouble over things we wouldn’t even blink at if Clarence Thomas did them. That said, Justice Marconi could be facing some serious consequences — up to seven years for each felony, and that’s before you weigh the additional misdemeanors! Sentencing someone to time behind bars is a grave matter, but so is enforcing the expectation that everyone — judges included — is subject to the rule of law.