US Supreme Court Rejects Rubashkin Appeal
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday by Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive of a kosher meat packing plant in Iowa who was sentenced to 27 years in prison on charges of financial fraud.
Without comment, the high court refused to consider whether Sholom Rubashkin’s sentence was excessive for a first-time, nonviolent offender and whether he was entitled to a new trial based on evidence of alleged judicial misconduct in the case.
The rejection could mark the last step in a four-year legal saga that began in May 2008 when federal authorities raided the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.
The Forward first reported on employee and animal welfare problems at Agriprocessors in 2006. Rubashkin, the CEO of Agriprocessors, was convicted in 2009 of 86 counts of financial fraud.
A member of the Lubavitch Hasidic sect, Rubashkin became a cause célèbre in the Orthodox community after his conviction. Orthodox Jews rallied on his behalf, organized an online petition drive in his support that received over 50,000 signatures, and have produced a handful of flashy videos arguing his case.
The push for a Supreme Court hearing on Rubashkin’s appeal drew support from outside the Orthodox community, however. In a blog post on Slate, journalist Emily Bazelon wrote that the “oddities of the case don’t sit well.”
In a recent highly polished video (see below), a handful of legal experts raised concerns about the handling of Rubashkin’s first trial.
On appeal, Rubashkin argued that he was entitled to a new trial after documents obtained through a freedom of information request allegedly revealed that the trial judge had been involved in planning the government raid. The 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in St. Louis had rejected Rubashkin’s request in 2011.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case came on the first day of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday when most of the key players in the case were not available for comment. Paul Clement, Rubashkin’s attorney, was not immediately available for comment.
Numerous groups submitted amicus briefs in support of Rubashkin, including 86 former attorneys general, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a group of 40 legal ethics professors.
The case is Rubashkin v. USA, No. 11-1203.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
