Conservative law professor unloads on White House counsel Don McGahn for drafting Trump's non-disclo

[Gothmog]

NDAs for governmental employees are unethical and unenforceable

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Here's the tweet and you can follow the thread:

Link to tweet

And here's the link to the NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/us/politics/trump-nondisclosure-agreement.html

[Gothmog]

3. The White House's non-disclosure agreements aren't normal

These agreements are not enforceable http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-white-houses-non-disclosure-agreements-arent-normal

Marcus spoke to attorney Debra Katz, who has represented numerous government whistleblowers and negotiated nondisclosure agreements, who described Trump’s NDAs as “crazy.”

Circling back to our previous coverage, there are a few angles to this to keep in mind.

First, are these NDAs enforceable? The ACLU believes the answer is no. Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement in March, “Public employees can’t be gagged by private agreements. These so-called NDAs are unconstitutional and unenforceable.” Whether anyone at the White House will test this assessment is unclear.

Second, what’s with Team Trump and its contempt for transparency? We’re not just talking about tax returns and visitor logs anymore. The scope of the secrecy surrounding this presidency is stunning.

And third, Marcus concluded with a key question about how Trump oversees his operation: “Why is he so consistently frantic to ensure that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors?” Under the circumstances, it’s hard not to wonder what it is, exactly, that the president is worried about being exposed.

[ghostsinthemachine]

6. My Dad used them to intimidate

People. Scare them into thinking they MIGHT be sued. And for the most part, they worked.

[Gothmog]

2. It's no answer to say, "he knew they were unenforceable."The White House Counsel shouldn't in the bu

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. It's quite possibly a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct in D.C.

Rules of Professional Conduct: Rule 4.1--Truthfulness in Statements to Others
In the course of representing a client, a lawyer shall not knowingly:
(a) Make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; or
(b) Fail to disclose a material fact to a third person when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client, unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6.

https://www.dcbar.org/bar-resources/legal-ethics/amended-rules/rule4-intro.cfm

[underpants]

4. This is why I love DU.

I've heard this all day and didn't even consider how stupid it was.

Thanks.

[UTUSN]

7. K&R