MaddowBlog-As the DOJ tries to undo Steve Bannon's conviction, a two-tiered system comes into view

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Republicans used to be concerned about the idea of a justice system that favors White House allies. They had the right concern about the wrong president.

As the DOJ tries to undo Steve Bannon’s conviction, a two-tiered system comes into view

www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Mike Walker (@newnarrative.bsky.social) 2026-02-10T20:25:14.914Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/as-the-doj-tries-to-undo-steve-bannons-conviction-a-two-tiered-system-comes-into-view

Bannon’s other serious legal problem came to the fore a year earlier when the podcast host and former White House strategist reported to a federal prison after having been found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress as part of the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. After serving a four-month sentence, he was released shortly before Election Day 2024.

In theory, that represented the end of the dispute, but in practice, it wasn’t quite that simple: Bannon and his lawyers continued to challenge his conviction, taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping to have the case overturned. After the high court justices asked the Justice Department to weigh in, my MS NOW colleague Jordan Rubin highlighted the unusual developments that followed:

On Monday, the day that the DOJ’s high court response was due, it didn’t file a brief opposing Bannon’s petition, as the government routinely does when criminal defendants petition the court. Rather, the DOJ told the justices that it was making a motion in the trial court to dismiss Bannon’s case, and it asked them to vacate the appeals court ruling against him and to send the case back so it can be dismissed in the lower court.

“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” prosecutors said in their Supreme Court filing.

In other words, Bannon wants his conviction overturned; the justices asked the DOJ for its perspective; and Justice Department officials effectively replied, “Sounds good to us.”....

And therein lies the larger point. Bannon had his day in court, he lost and he was held accountable. Trump’s Justice Department is on board with undoing his conviction, apparently for the most obvious of reasons: The defendant is allied with the president.

This keeps happening. If you’re a convicted criminal whom Trump likes, you get a pardon. If you’re an accused criminal whom Trump likes, the charges against you evaporate. And if you’re a criminal who wants an earlier conviction overturned, and Trump looks favorably on you, the president’s Justice Department will endorse your endeavor.

For years, Republicans were obsessed with the idea that the United States had entered an era of a “two-tiered” system of justice. As it happens, they had the right concern about the wrong president.

I am glad that Bannon had to serve his prison sentence