I wonder if Tina Peters lays awake in her cell at night aglow in the attention President Donald Trump and his new-look Department of Justice have paid to her plight. I imagine in her twisted mind deliverance will come any day.
The reality in court is drastically different.
Peters’ longshot effort to get a federal court to set her free as she awaited appeals in her state court case never served as more than a procedural opportunity for Peters to throw her nutty theories against the wall. Much as the judge overseeing her trial gave her ample rope, which she used to hoist herself up by the neck, the federal court indulges her to be sure she gets her day in court.
That is what due process is — getting to present your arguments and evidence. I know the concept is foreign to Trump and his supporters who have been disappearing legal residents from America’s streets and shipping them abroad. But in our system of government, such as it remains, Peters has that right.
It does not mean the court has to agree with her. It does not mean it has to accept her evidence or explanations. No matter how fervently Peters or her supporters believe the tortured logic she raises, there is not a fundamental right for the court to take her side.
But apparently that is what the DOJ, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump, has chosen to do. Their attorneys have come riding in to support Peters in her quest. Having substituted fealty to Trump in place of service to the country, they have taken upon themselves to set free a woman convicted by a jury and sentenced by a judge.
After Trump freed more than 1,500 people who assaulted the U.S. Capitol at his urging, helping Peters is another step in placing his supporters outside the law.
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3:05 AM MDT on Apr 23, 20255:22 PM MDT on Apr 22, 2025If it seems dystopian to believe an agency with the word “justice” in its name would subvert the very exercise of it, then maybe you would agree that George Orwell was less a novelist than a nonfiction writer ahead of his time. The utter lack of independence from the DOJ in cases like this put our whole country in peril.
Thankfully it is not happening in a vacuum. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office refused to comply or consent or negotiate with their federal counterparts. Instead, they opened their cannons on the turbid arguments presented by federal lawyers.
Weiser’s deputies noted that there is no instance of the federal government ever injecting itself into a state proceeding of the sort Peters brought. They called out the overtly political nature of the federal filing. They made the threat to the rule of law clear and unambiguous.
That is the only way to react in these circumstances.
And it appeared to work. As the lawyers from the state office argued, the federal magistrate overseeing the hearing seemed to understand. He specifically questioned what additional interest the federal government had beyond Peters’ own interests. He demanded evidence when the federal attorneys argued political bias formed the basis of Peters’ prosecution. He challenged the idea that Peters’ case might not otherwise receive prompt and careful consideration.
Barrages like that from a federal judge are usually cause for introspection for the recipients.
In the Trump administration, which has been actively undermining the judiciary since it began (not to mention Trump’s decade of personal broadsides), neither deference to judicial officers nor humility play much role. They do not seem to believe they even owe judges answers to their questions.
At one point, after the judge asked for evidence, the “Justice” Department attorney replied, “I’m not authorized to speak on that.”
If that evasion sounds familiar, it is because it is to the position they have taken in the high-profile Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. They have refused to provide in-court evidence of Garcia’s involvement in any crimes despite repeated instruction from the judge in that case. They have twisted the words of the U.S. Supreme Court in a manner that defies logic.
Federal lawyers have all but threatened the judge in that case. Given the breaking news that their DOJ brethren in the FBI arrested a judge Friday, though, such an outcome does not seem far-fetched. They may simply believe that disagreement with their positions is against their self-proclaimed law.
For now, it is not likely to do Peters much good. Federal judges do not react well to any party refusing to provide information they request, no matter the reason. Unable to answer the basic questions put forth by the judge, it seems unlikely that the DOJ will be allowed to continue in this case. More than likely, they will be summarily bounced.
That will leave Peters to continue howling at the moon alone. She will make her case, no matter how incongruous and incoherent. She will await a ruling even as she appeals at the state level. And she will continue sleeping in a cell comforted only by the fleeting effort her hero ordered his ministry of justice to make.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on Bluesky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at [email protected].
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