Judge denies Bob Menendez's request to delay trial for Senate votes
by Ryan Lovelace | Sep 1, 2017, 11:32 AM
The judge presiding over New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez's federal corruption trial will not halt the trial so the Democrat can cast votes in the U.S. Senate.
Menendez's attorneys filed a motion on Thursday night seeking to adjourn the trial on days when the senator needed to cast votes, but the judge denied the request on Friday, and called it "nigh frivolous."
In denying the motion, Judge William H. Walls noted the Supreme Court has refused to extend "special treatment" to members of Congress.
"Defendant Menendez, granted, as are all defendants, with the presumption of innocence, need not appear in court if he does not wish or wants to be absent," Walls wrote Friday. "He may voluntarily absent himself. This is his prerogative. All defendants have that right. Such right is not new nor recent. Practically speaking, during any absence his lawyers will be present to maintain his interests. The motion—from a practical perspective—is nigh frivolous."
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