What’s Causing the Delay, Judge Ho? Is He Playing ‘Sword of Damocles’ with Eric Adams Like Judge Merchan Did with Trump?

This situation has the stench of political maneuvering, or at least suggests that a federal judge might be apprehensive about potential political repercussions for simply doing his duty.

This Friday marks three weeks since former US Solicitor General Paul Clement, acting as an amicus curiae, recommended that Southern District Judge Dale Ho dismiss the corruption allegations against Mayor Eric Adams with prejudice — effectively blocking the Justice Department from re-filing the charges.

Clement’s recommendation was issued in response to a prompt from Ho, including the judge’s own deadline of March 7 for input.

So, Justice Ho: Why did you solicit Clement’s prompt action, only to remain silent yourself?

The city, the taxpayers who fund your position, a sitting mayor, and an entire campaign landscape are all awaiting your decision — which, according to at least one former federal prosecutor, is taking an “unusually long” time.

You sought external counsel; you received it; it was clear-cut — and makes a great deal of sense.

And yet, here we are, still mired in uncertainty.

This is a movie New Yorkers are all too familiar with.

Partisan judge Juan Merchan similarly delayed proceedings to keep Donald Trump entangled in legal issues throughout the previous year.

After heavily leaning towards the prosecution in Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s flimsy case against Trump, Merchan subsequently delayed sentencing for a long time following his contrived “guilty” verdict — a delay that prevented Trump from filing an appeal.

Merchan postponed proceedings until after Trump’s re-election win, astonishingly ordering Trump’s legal team to submit a brief in December before finally allowing the case to proceed.

This petty political game may have satisfied Merchan’s political superiors, but it did not advance the cause of justice in any way.

Ho has three options: He can either move the Adams case to trial, leave it in limbo (perpetuating uncertainty for the mayor), or decide based on the legal advice he sought — and dismiss it for good.

Ho might simply be apprehensive about the political fallout from ruling as Clement recommends: Regardless of how the left claims leaving the case unresolved positions Adams as a mere puppet of Trump, progressives will still express outrage since they prefer to see the mayor sidelined.

If that’s the case, Ho needs to step up.

This is his responsibility, for goodness’ sake.

Another, much more troubling possibility, is that this Biden appointee believes he can inflict the most damage on Adams’ re-election campaign by remaining inactive for as long as possible.

Regardless of the judge’s reasoning for the delay, he is interfering with a mayoral race that is already fraught with complications.

Each additional day of stalling only diminishes public trust in our justice system even further.