To a hammer, everything is a nail. And a special prosecutor is a very dangerous hammer.

On Thursday night, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced that she was appointing New York Attorney General Letitia James as a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University. In her statement announcing the appointment, Hochul said she had “lost faith in the Tompkins County DA’s ability to fairly oversee” the case and that “the young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued.”