A student facing criminal charges over pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Michigan last year has “serious concerns regarding (Attorney General Dana Nessel’s) ability to remain impartial.”

Attorney Amir Makled, representing student Samantha Rose Lewis, filed a motion on Friday asking the judge in the case to disqualify Nessel and appoint a special prosecutor, CBS News reports.

Nessel, who is Jewish, last fall charged 11 people with crimes stemming from a pro-Palestinian encampment at UM where students and faculty demanded the university divest from Israel and companies that support the U.S. ally.

Lewis stands accused of assaulting, resisting and obstructing a police officer, and trespassing.

The charges sparked heated comments from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who insinuated Nessel’s faith fogged her legal judgement.

Nessel previously joined with state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, in November 2023 to call out Tlaib over her repeated use of the phrase “from the river to the sea” in comments about Palestine.

“(‘From the river to the sea’) is a phrase that has been used by those who want to kill, maim, harm, destroy – Jews,” Moss told WJBK in 2023. “The phrase has been co-opted as a battle cry for those who want to eradicate Jews who live in Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”

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“Those words are anti-Semitic to us,” said Nessel. “And that’s why we’ve asked her to stop using that kind of language. It’s still painful – it still hurts us – and we’re still asking her to stop.”

The motion from Makled cited both Nessel’s public comments about Gaza and a petition from her office in March regarding another case that sought a special prosecutor to oversee election fraud allegations in Hamtramck.

The motion noted “Attorney General Nessel stated that critics had alleged her office’s prosecutions of pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Michigan were brought ‘due to bias against Muslims and/or people of Arab descent.”

The motion also pointed to an October 2024 article in The Guardian that detailed more than $33,000 in campaign contributions to Nessel from six of eight UM regents, as well as other business and personal connections between the AG and regents.

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The article further highlighted allegations regents lobbied Nessel to file charges against pro-Palestinian protestors in hopes of securing convictions that seemed less likely from local prosecutors, allegations both Nessel and regents have denied.

Nessel alleged she offered to take over the cases because some of the alleged crimes occurred in multiple jurisdictions.

“A Guardian analysis finds Nessel’s office has so far charged about 85% of the protesters who were arrested or for whom arrest warrants were requested last school year,” according to the news site. “By comparison, Washtenaw county’s office only charged 10% of arrests, while the Wayne county prosecutor Kym Worthy dropped all five Gaza protest cases forwarded to her office by Wayne State University police in Detroit, data provided by protesters’ attorneys and prosecutors shows.”

All of the above “raise serious concerns regarding (Nessel’s) ability to remain impartial or at least, they create an appearance of impropriety sufficient to require her recusal/disqualification in this matter,” Makled wrote.

Nessel spokeswoman Kimberly Bush told CBS News the motion for a special prosecutor in the UM case incorporates “numerous known falsehoods.”

“It is unclear where The Guardian came up with their statistics,” Bush said in a statement. “The Department was referred over 40 cases for review stemming from the protests at the University of Michigan. Of those over 40 cases, 11 were charged for criminal behavior.”

The AG’s office previously disputed the case analysis from The Guardian, which clarified last year that the 85% charge rate referred to protestors for which arrest warrants were requested, not all cases reviewed by the AG.

Bush also took issue with claims in the motion about Nessel’s reaction to Tlaib’s insinuation of bias in the AG’s office.

“She responded directly to false accusations of bias made by the Congresswoman,” Bush said.

Nessel’s office is next expected to respond to the motion in court.