Harry Litman - The Perversity of Trump's DOJ
Law enforcement agencies enforce laws.
At least that’s what they’re designed to do. But Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is turning that widely accepted idea on its head.
The DOJ is designed to pursue justice without fear or favor. But that is its role concerning individual defendants. In the overall tripartite system of federal power, the Department is not a disinterested party. Rather, it has a stake: it urges Congress to pass, and the courts to uphold, clear laws that permit it to go after dangerous people. It wants to act within constitutional limits, both because Department attorneys swear an oath to the Constitution and, more practically, because it’s a huge hindrance to secure a conviction only to have it reversed for constitutional error and be sent back to square one.
So when the Department weighs in with a court, it states its interest upfront and is forthright about its institutional role in keeping the country safe from guilty offenders. More generally, while the Solicitor General is commonly known as the Administration’s advocate in the Supreme Court, former SGs will tell you that an even more important part of their duties is to formulate and apply the Department’s institutional interests in cases around the country.
https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/the-perversity-of-trumps-doj l
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