The federal appeals panel’s ruling has no legal repercussions. It overturned a 1986 extradition order without rendering a verdict on what role Demjanjuk played in World War II. But the panel blasted the prosecutors’ “reckless disregard for the truth” and a “‘win at any cost’ attitude,” suggesting that the OSI may have been influenced by Jewish groups. While the ruling probably won’t lead to disciplinary action, it puts Justice on the defensive. Federal courts have recently scuttled other cases because of prosecutorial misconduct–among them, acquitting a Mexican physician charged in the murder of a U.S. drug agent and overturning convictions against leaders of Chicago’s El Rukns gang. Even so, Attorney General Janet Reno vowed to push for Demjanjuk’s “prompt removal” from the United States on the ground that he may have been a guard at another death camp.
