The Siegelman prosecution has been widely criticized as a frame-up by Martin, and the prosecution is now the subject of a probe by the House Judiciary Committee, which is trying to determine if it was brought for political reasons.

The Siegelman story is well known. Horton focuses on a less celebrated story, "the failed prosecution of Axion, a company started by Alexander Nooredin Latifi, an intense and amiable entrepreneur who emigrated from Iran as a young man in the 1970s." The government prosecuted Axion for violating the Arms Export Control Act by giving technical drawings of a Blackhawk helicopter part to a manufacturer in China.

After the trial started in October, the government's case collapsed quickly. What Axion had attempted to have made in China was nothing more than a tungsten blank, from which Axion intended to mill the actual part. The government was forced to acknowledge that the drawings furnished to Axion by its contractor had not been labeled "restricted," but instead were given a legend of "noncritical" and "uncontrolled," meaning that Axion had no way of knowing that their use was restricted. Moreover, the drawings had long been accessible on the Internet.

As the case progressed, the government's own witnesses were forced to concede that Blackhawk helicopters, equipped with the part in question, had actually been sold to China with U.S. government approval, demolishing the government's claim of a breach of secrecy. Not only that, but the prosecution was aware of these sales before the case was ever brought.

Judge Inge Johnson didn't think much of the government's case. She dismissed it. As to what she thought of the government's lawyers, Judge Johnson wrote:

"Evidence was received ... that at least raises the possibility in the eyes of the district court that the government continued to investigate and prosecute the defendants even after uncovering evidence demonstrating that the defendants were not guilty."

Horton asks why Martin would continue a flawed prosecution:

She declined to comment for this article. But for a prosecutor, the appeal of a national security case involving arms sales to China is obvious. Or it could be, as Henry Frohsin believes, that "the fact that Alex Latifi was Iranian American was more than tempting for the Department of Justice to try to create a poster child for their arms export control activism."

Ouch. In addition to prosecuting Axiom without good reason, the government froze Axiom's assets, causing the business to fail. The only good news in this is a rare decision to sanction the government monetarily:

Having won the case, Baker Donelson then put the government on the defensive. The firm filed a motion, arguing that the case was not brought in good faith and that the government should compensate Axion and Latifi for legal costs. Judge Johnson agreed. She wrote that the AECA "framework allows the government to effectively shut down an accused business regardless of whether the business is later acquitted at criminal trial. This result is unfair to potential defendants and, in this case as a practical matter, ruined Axion's business." She awarded $363,000 in costs, attorney fees and interest to Axion.

So Axion got reimbursed for legal fees, but that doesn't put Axion back in business, and it doesn't come out of Martin's pocket. It comes out of ours.

Do you suppose the president will nominate Alice Martin for a federal judgeship before his term ends? Or will he just give her a medal?