Bruce A. Green and Jessica A. Roth. “Subordinate Prosecutors’ Independence.” Stetson Law Review 55 (2025): 237–285. https://stetsonlawreview.org/article/subordinate-prosecutors-independence/.

This essay is about subordinate prosecutors’ independence to do what they think constitutes “seeking justice” when they perceive that their boss, or their boss’s boss, wants them to do something that is unjust—not illegal, but unjust. Of course, if subordinate prosecutors want to do either what they are told to do or what they infer that a higher-up wants them to do, they can do so, as long as the conduct is legal. Subordinate prosecutors might choose to disregard their own professional judgment of what justice requires because they share their boss’s objectives, because they see conforming as a route to advancement, because they are worried about their job, because they are indifferent, or for other reasons. But if one is assigned responsibility for a criminal investigation or prosecution, when is it permissible to act on one’s independent judgment about what prosecutorial norms require, and when might doing so be a transgression or insubordination? This is obviously a question of importance for federal prosecutors in 2025, given the current administration’s insistence on prosecutors’ loyalty to the president, his administration, and his agenda. But we began asking this question before the 2024 election, and, in our view, the question we ask is important at any time for prosecutors in any prosecutor’s office.