Prof. Alan Rozenshtein Quoted in New York Times About Trump’s Nominees for Justice Department

Professor Alan Rozenshtein was quoted in the New York Times about Donald Trump intending to nominate three members of his criminal defense team to senior roles in the U.S. Justice Department, raising further concerns about politicization of the department. Throughout American history, presidents have made a habit of installing lawyers close to them in powerful positions. But until now, no president had ever nominated his own criminal defense team to top jobs in the Justice Department. Trump’s choices of attorneys to play senior roles runs the risk of turning the agency into something it was never meant to be: the president’s private law firm. Prof. Rozenshtein said, “It’s a strange move, for sure, although that’s not to say that you can’t be Trump’s defense lawyer and still be a good lawyer. Still, it raises all sorts of complex conflicts of interest and raises questions about whether the Justice Department should exist to protect the president of the United States.”