Prosecutors Must Be Held Accountable for Misconduct

Upon reflection, the Trump Justice Department has chosen to dismiss its Reflecting Pool cases.

When the restoration project for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool failed following a no-bid contract awarded to Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a company tied to President Donald Trump — the Trump administration faced a dilemma. The attempt to paint the pool bed “American flag blue” ahead of our nation’s 250th anniversary had gone disastrously wrong. Rather than accept responsibility for a rushed timeline and a botched epoxy coating that almost immediately began peeling, administration officials took a page out of their typical playbook and chose to shift the blame.

High-ranking officials, including U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro — perhaps acting under broader directives from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche or even Trump himself — sought scapegoats to distract from the administration’s obvious failures and mollify the president. Most notably, they targeted 67-year-old former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn. Hearn, who had simply paused during a bike ride to examine the peeling material, was indicted on a felony count of malicious property destruction, facing up to 10 years in prison.

Public outcry frequently suggests that Hearn should sue for damages — an intuitive reaction. Just as a doctor would face civil liability for performing an unnecessary, invasive procedure without examining a patient, prosecutors should be accountable when they fail to exercise due care. After all, Pirro’s office presented false narratives to a grand jury without conducting a meaningful investigation, unleashing the full weight of federal prosecution. In a July 2 press conference, Pirro claimed Hearn was observed “forcefully” and “violently” removing a pool liner — a claim prosecutors maintained in court despite lacking supporting evidence. Ultimately, DOJ prosecutors misled the grand jury, the judge and the public.

Only after her case crumbled — likely fearing forced discovery of internal documents — did Pirro move to drop all charges, acknowledging the damage stemmed from flawed installation rather than criminal acts. Her motion to dismiss blamed the Department of the Interior for misleading her office, though both Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum publicly rebuked Pirro. Her refusal to aggressively execute the president’s legal agenda now leaves her tenure uncertain, following former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s dismissal for failing to achieve “wins” for the president.

But regardless of who is to blame, prosecutors retain an independent duty to evaluate evidence and assess credibility, which they plainly failed to do.

Of course, Hearn, along with the other individuals whose cases have been dismissed, should be entitled to massive civil damages. Yet under current law, the prosecutors who brought the baseless felony charge against him cannot be sued. Rather, they remain completely insulated from civil liability.

Constitutional rights require enforcement mechanisms to function effectively, yet when prosecutors violate a private citizen’s rights through malicious prosecution, legal options for recovery are non-existent. First and foremost, there is no statute authorizing suits against federal actors who commit constitutional violations.

This accountability gap is compounded by judicial precedent that confers absolute immunity on prosecutors for conduct that falls within their core prosecutorial duties — such as courtroom advocacy. As a direct result of this precedent, a prosecutor who intentionally fabricates evidence, conceals exculpatory material or knowingly presents false narratives in court remains entirely shielded from civil suits for damages.

Fortunately, the solution is very straightforward. First, lawmakers must enact a federal statutory cause of action statute — such as the proposed Bivens Act — that creates an explicit statutory right of action for individuals to sue federal officials who violate any of their constitutional rights. However, an explicit cause of action is insufficient on its own, as it would simply open the courthouse doors only to trap litigants in the vestibule. Therefore, Congress must also do away with the judicially concocted doctrine of absolute prosecutorial immunity that elevates prosecutors on a pedestal above their professional counterparts.

Without these essential statutory changes, what happened to David Hearn can happen to any one of us. Likewise, absent congressional action, federal prosecutors will continue to operate with impunity, leaving victims of egregious prosecutorial misconduct entirely without a legal remedy.

The actions of the prosecutors who brought this case should face meaningful scrutiny. The onus is on Congress to ensure that happens.