"Lessons from Andrew Sullivan's pot bust"

Gawker, citing a report on the blog of  Massachusetts Lawyer's Weekly, notes that blogger/journalist Andrew Sullivan was cited for pot possession in July at the the Cape Cod National Seashore. The U.S. Attorney's Office later sought to drop the charge, arousing objections from a judge who suspected Sullivan was receiving special treatment. At a hearing last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings noted that people caught with pot at the Cape Cod National Seashore are "routinely" prosecuted. When he asked why an exception was being made in this case, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Lang said his office did not want to adversely affect Sullivan's application for "a certain immigration status" (possibly a visa renewal; Sullivan is a British citizen). Dissastisfied by this explanation, Collings worried in a memorandum (PDF) issued yesterday that "the United States Attorney is not being faithful to a cardinal principle of our legal system, i.e., that all persons stand equal before the law and are to be treated equally in a court of justice once judicial processes are invoked." He said "it is quite clear that Mr. Sullivan is being treated differently from others who have been charged with the same crime in similar circumstances." Collings nevertheless granted the prosecution's request to dismiss the charge against Sullivan, saying he felt constrained to do so by his limited discretion in such decisions.