Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMake This Obstruction Thing Go Away
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/06/trump_treats_lawyers_as_hired_help_will_that_work_now_that_he_s_president.htmlJune 22 2017 5:54 AM
Make This Obstruction Thing Go Away
Trump has always treated lawyers like hired help. As president, hes finally found attorneys who refuse to do his bidding.
By Dahlia Lithwick
It will shock nobody to learn that Donald Trump doesnt understand what lawyers do. If you are a successful businessman, its hardly surprising that you would conceive of lawyers as well-compensated plumbers and cocktail waitressesfolks who make crap disappear and bring you everything you want, wordlessly and with short skirts. If you are a Trump-style successful businessman, one who is apt to hinge his success on infinite lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, and the invitation to your creditors to file other lawsuits, your lawyers are pretty much just the guys and gals who empty your ashtrays of whatever debris is left behind once the court has ruled. If one lawyer wont get you the outcome you desire, the next one surely will. With massive fees and important connections on offer, there will always be a nearly infinite pool of people willing to file some brief on your behalf.
As soon as Trump started to talk about lawyers and the law on the campaign trail last year, I recognized the type: a rich guy who had never been told no. If you have small children you, too, will recognize the type. Its a developmental stage that usually ends at toddlerhood, but if the toddler has enough money, power, and influence, that person can grow up to be an adult who is a nightmare to represent. Before I was a journalist I briefly worked at a family law firm, and I occasionally had the professional obligation to assist extremely wealthy successful businessmen with their divorces and custody battles. Sometimes these folks were on the other side. Always, they held a view of lawyers I didnt remember learning about in law school: They believed attorneys were the help and that laws were problems thatwith enough help and enough money to buy even better helpcould be made to go away.
snip//
I suspect that if one asked Trump if there was any difference between the Office of Legal Counsel, the White House Counsels office, the attorney general, his divorce attorney, and the FBI director, he would say, without guile or uncertainty, that they all work for him. Perhaps the unitary executive crowd would agree. But as we inch nearer to a showdown between Muellers and the presidents views of what lawyers do each day, its worth considering that there is one place left in America in which lawyers in crumpled shirts work for a tiny fraction of what their law school classmates earn. In Washington, the successful businessmen may buy a lot of $100 signature cocktails at the Trump International Hotel bar, but lifelong government lawyers dont usually empty ashtrays for anyone.
Trumps robber baron view of all attorneys as fungible well-paid loyalists may someday prove to be the Washington way. But so long as the rumpled, badly paid government lawyers are sitting on the other side of the table, this wont be as simple as a divorce settlement. And Trump still has to contend with the most rumpled and principled government lawyers of them all: the judges who havent been much impressed, at least thus far, with all the presidents men.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
1 replies, 1545 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Make This Obstruction Thing Go Away (Original Post)
babylonsister
Jun 2017
OP
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)1. Trump has a lousy legal team