Professor Jed Shugerman wrote an op-ed for Washington Post about President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker to lead the U.S. Department of Justice. Some suggest Matthew G. Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general is unprecedented. It is likely unconstitutional, but, unfortunately, it is not new. After about 150 years of mostly professional attorneys general, a long line of insiders, hacks, cronies and fixers has occupied the office for much of the past century, and has too often damaged the rule of law. President Trump’s appointment of Whitaker is a steep drop off a slippery slope of corruption. It’s time…
Author: Newsroom
Karen Greenberg was quoted in a Daily Beast article about Dick Cheney’s former top national-security aide coming under scrutiny in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. “These are countries that are extremely powerful that operate outside of a Democratic framework converging in the most sacred of America’s democratic institutions: its election,” said Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham University’s Center for National Security. “The Cheney group was often doing things… outside the customary boundaries of America’s internal and external politics,” she added. “If Mueller finds evidence of wrongdoing, it would make us wonder why we as a community—whoever we are—weren’t…
Stein Scholar Yazmine Nichols wrote an opinion piece for Blavity about the impact of gentrification in New York City on low-income minority communities. New York City has always been a place that is dynamic and evolving. Change is inevitable, but as the maxim goes, “not all change is good.” In recent years, parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan have seen an influx of high rises, green spaces and private businesses with little to no input from current community residents. Ultimately, these changes are not meant for low-income Black and Latinx people, but for an ever-growing group of affluent…
Visiting Professor Corey Brettschneider was interviewed by Fox5 NY about his new book, The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents Nearly two years ago, Donald Trump raised his right hand and solemnly swore to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Every president has started his time in office with that oath of office, prescribed in Article II of the United States Constitution. But while nearly every president has been accused…
Jed Shugerman was quoted in a Slate article about President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker to lead the U.S. Department of Justice. On Wednesday, in an Office of Legal Counsel memo, the Justice Department made its argument for why Matthew Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general is legal. Here’s that argument, in a nutshell: The Constitution’s text doesn’t really matter; the Framers didn’t mean what they said; and an acting attorney general who served without Senate confirmation for six days in 1866 provides the historical precedent to justify Whitaker’s claim to the office. … There is a problem with this reasoning: It…
Adjunct Professor Joel Cohen coauthored an op-ed for The Hill where he discusses the possible impact if special counsel Robert Mueller were to be fired by acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker. Let’s assume a worst-case scenario: Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker straight-up fires special counsel Robert Mueller — no half-measures of refusing to allow Mueller to take certain investigative steps, or drastically cutting Mueller’s budget to starve his Russia investigation of resources, but a flat out “You’re fired!” If that were to happen before Democrats take control of the House in 2019, no congressional committee is likely to subpoena…
Fordham Law alumnus Steven Klar ’09 has been elected partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Steven is a member of the Firm’s Private Funds Practice. He represents various sponsors of private equity funds, including buyout funds, real estate funds, secondary funds and other alternative investment funds on fundraisings, co-investments, managed accounts and structured secondary transactions as well as ongoing advisory matters. Steven received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law in 2009 and his B.S. in 2003 from Yeshiva University, Sy Syms School of Business. Read full report.
Andrew Kent was quoted in an i24 News article about President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker to lead the U.S. Department of Justice. President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker to lead the US Department of Justice was called “unlawful” Tuesday in a court challenge less than one week after he was named acting attorney general. The state of Maryland asked a federal judge to block Whitaker from acting on behalf of the department in an ongoing court case on health care policy, arguing that he had not been approved by the US Senate as required by law.…
David A. Andelman, visiting scholar at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, wrote an opinion piece for NBC News about Trump’s recent visit to France. What could have been a sober show of international cooperation and a reaffirmation of transatlantic alliances instead became, once again, an example of America’s tarnishing reputation abroad. The debacle began, as so many involving the U.S. president do, with a tweet. Trump slammed the French president, badly misconstruing what Macron had actually said about the need for a European defense force (Macron was calling for more cybersecurity, not an army “to protect…
A review of Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster, a book about the life of alumna Eunice Carter ’32, was published in News 95.5. The story had been floating around in author Stephen Carter’s head for a long time. A black woman born in Atlanta at the turn of the century who went off to Smith College and Fordham University law school. She was later appointed the first black woman assistant district attorney in New York for a team that would take down Charles “Lucky” Luciano, the Italian-born mobster…