NJ.com on the government’s weird motion:

Prosecutors complained that the  jury in the first trial would often see the senator holding prayer circles with dressed clergy in the hallway and singing religious hymns in the hallway. They said Menendez would occasionally pray, gathering with clergy outside the courthouse, and sometimes was heard singing ‘Amazing Grace.'”

In its filing, the government urged the court to impose safeguards to protect the jury from what they called “undue extrajudicial pressure” during the next trial.

“Each morning during trial, the jury had to walk down a long public hallway from the elevator to the jury room. Defendant Menendez, his family, his attorneys, his employees, and his supporters lined the hallway each morning until the last juror had passed. The jury thus had to walk a gauntlet of the defense team each morning before court,” prosecutors complained.

They also asked the court to order to defense not to make “improper arguments and comments that politicize and racialize” the case.