A US congresswoman who just gave birth to a baby girl faces a deadline this week on whether to seek a rehearing of a federal case against her by the Trump administration after an oversight visit to an immigration detention facility. LaMonica McIver, 40, represents New Jersey’s 10th congressional district. She gave birth to her second child last Thursday – a rarity for a sitting member of Congress.
She is only the 15th member of Congress to give birth while serving and part of a small subset of congresswomen who have school-age children. McIver first won her seat during a special election in mid-2024, then won a full term later that year. She is also running for re-election this year.
In announcing the birth of her second child after publicly discussing fertility struggles, McIver called being a mom “one of the greatest joys of my life”. She is the only member of Congress whom the Department of Justice has indicted, and the charges carry a potential 17 years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges and sought to get them dismissed, arguing that she is immune from prosecution under the US constitution’s speech and debate clause because she was doing her job and that she has been selectively prosecuted by the Trump administration.
McIver and her legal team will need to decide by 9 October whether to seek a rehearing or en banc hearing before the third circuit court of appeals in New Jersey in the case, basically a further review of the case by the full appellate court. She could also ask the US supreme court to consider the appellate court’s decision, or let the case go to trial. McIver previously told the Guardian that the case against her is part of a pattern of intimidation and retaliation by the Trump administration against those who disagree with the president or try to hold him accountable.
It’s about bullying,” McIver said last year. The Washington Post, after analyzing video from many angles, said McIver “made contact with at least two agents” in the scuffle, but that it was “difficult to discern the force of the contact and to what extent it was intentional or the result of the chaotic moment”. In a radio interview in September, McIver described the situation outside Delaney Hall that day as “very chaotic, very scary”, noting that armed federal agents were surrounding her and her congressional colleagues.
She called the charges “dangerous for all members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, not just for me”. McIver has spoken about the challenge of doing her job, managing the case and fundraising to pay for legal fees as a relatively new member of Congress, especially while pregnant and caring for her older daughter, who is 10. In a profile with Elle magazine, McIver said that she “couldn’t put the world on pause” while contending with her legal case and her dream of another child.
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