Who Are Alex Spiro, Emil Bove and Other Lawyers Who May Be at the Adams Hearing?

A hearing Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan will determine whether the Justice Department will be allowed to drop the criminal charges pending against Mayor Eric Adams. The Justice Department request sent shock waves through the ranks of current and federal prosecutors.

Here are the people who may participate in the extraordinary proceeding.

Mayor Eric Adams

A former police captain who was elected to lead New York City in 2021, Mr. Adams was the city’s 110th mayor and the first in modern history to be indicted on criminal charges while in office.

Mr. Adams, who is charged with bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, insists that he has not committed any crimes and has vowed to remain in office. He continues campaigning for a second term even as calls for his resignation mount and top officials flee his administration. He argues that he was targeted for prosecution because of his criticism of how the Biden administration handled the country’s immigration problems.

Dale E. Ho

Judge Ho was first nominated to the federal bench by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021 and then, after failing to win Senate confirmation, renominated in January 2023. He was confirmed by the Senate six months later in a 50-to-49 vote that fell largely along party lines, with some Republicans criticizing statements he had made on social media.

Judge Ho spent about 10 years at the American Civil Liberties Union, where he most recently supervised the group’s voting rights litigation unit. He clerked in the Southern District of New York, where he now presides, and at the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. He also worked at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.