Fitzgerald’s claim to fame before recently hitting the headlines, however, was prosecuting the U.S. rulers’ “war on terror,” including helping convict attorney Lynne Stewart.

Stewart is the first defense lawyer convicted on “terrorism” charges by the government. She has been waging a public campaign to pressure U.S. District Judge John Koeltl to hand down a minimum sentence. On October 25 Koeltl rejected Stewart’s appeal of her conviction and request for a new trial.

Fitzgerald worked for 13 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. In September 2001 he became the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “As the first head of New York’s terrorism prosecution unit, Fitzgerald either personally prosecuted or supervised some of the landmark terrorism cases predating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

These cases included the 1996 conviction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim cleric, on frame-up charges of conspiracy to bomb the World Trade Center three years earlier. The cleric was sentenced to life in prison plus 65 years. The Tribune noted that Fitzgerald “used a Civil War-era statute prohibiting planning crimes against the nation” in prosecuting Abdel-Rahman. Fitzgerald followed up on this frame-up by assisting in the conviction of the cleric’s attorney, Lynne Stewart.

At the heart of the case against Stewart were charges that she conspired to violate Department of Justice Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). These measures, drafted by Fitzgerald, imposed harsh restrictions on her client. On orders from this top prosecutor, Abdel-Rahman was prohibited from speaking to the media, and was strictly limited in his access to mail, telephones, and visitors. It was Fitzgerald who called Stewart in July 2000 to tell her she was suspended from contact with her client because she had released a statement by Abdel-Rahman to the media. Fitzgerald also served as the prosecution’s first witness against Stewart when the trial began in June 2004. Stewart has described Fitzgerald as “a crusader…in the medieval sense.”

Much of the “evidence” against Stewart was based on government wiretaps of more than two years of conversations between her and Abdel-Rahman and videotapes of their meetings in prison.

Stewart was convicted last February on all five charges of “conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist activity” and “defrauding” the government in relation to the SAMs. She was immediately disbarred and faces up to 30 years in prison. Her case against this frame-up has won the support of the National Lawyers Guild, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and others. Sentencing is set for December 22.

Fitzgerald’s career, on the other hand, appears to be taking off.
 
 
Related articles:
White House official faces 30 years in jail for perjury
The pornographication of politics
New hero of liberals: frame-up expert  
 
 
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