Ryan Crosswell, Of Counsel at Singleton Schreiber in San Diego, was recently featured in The Bulwark’s April 8, 2025, article, "It Takes Guts to Quit on Principle," which highlights several federal attorneys and public servants who have resigned in protest during President Trump’s second administration and includes Mr. Crosswell’s decision to resign from the Department of Justice on February 17th, 2025, after he refused to help dismiss a criminal indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams—an action that Mr. Crosswell says was not based on legal merit but instead was politically designed to pressure the mayor into supporting the administration’s immigration policy.
Mr. Crosswell, a trial attorney with over a decade of DOJ experience, stated that the directive from Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to dismiss the case was issued without evaluating underlying evidence or legal theory, and that Bove had threatened professional consequences for career prosecutors in the Southern District of New York who refused to comply.
From Mr. Crosswell: “[The] integrity and courage [of my colleagues] reflects the Department's best traditions and gives me hope for our section's future. However, I cannot work for someone who invokes leadership after forcing dedicated public servants to choose between termination and a dismissal so plainly at odds with core prosecutorial principles."
