Former US Attorney Rachael Rollins, once touted by Democrats and nominated by Biden, has faced mounting legal troubles.
Rollins resigned in disgrace in 2022 after a DOJ investigation found she had abused her authority and leaked privileged information to help a Democrat get elected.
“District Attorney Rollins is a national leader on transforming the criminal justice system and shifting away from an approach based on punishment and penalization to one that combats the root causes of injustice, whether it be poverty, substance use, or racial disparity,” Democratic senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren stated.
While the DOJ declined to prosecute if she resigned, the state bar counsel reviewed her case and the state Supreme Court has now suspended her law license for unpaid fees.
Rollins became the subject of ethics violations for her “social justice” approach as Suffolk County DA that saw few prosecutions, though Democrats had praised her work transforming the criminal justice system.
Her downfall marks another example of a once-celebrated progressive prosecutor whose dedication to reform led to abuses of power.
The DOJ stated that Rollins “falsely testified under oath during her OIG interview when she denied that she was the federal law enforcement source that provided nonpublic, sensitive DOJ information to the Herald reporter about a possible Hayden criminal investigation.”
