The Legal Resistance to Trump
// 4/5/18 //
While at Harvard Law School on Tuesday, I delivered a talk entitled "The Legal Resistance to Trump." You can watch it here. I am grateful to the HLS Forum for hosting this event.
I had five primary goals in my talk:
(1) to describe respects in which the legal response to Trump is unique;
(2) to explain why we've already seen such an extraordinary barrage of litigation against Trump;
(3) to identify strategic objectives common to many Trump-related lawsuits;
(4) to evaluate the judicial response to suits against the Trump Administration; and
(5) to warn against fantastical expectations that lawyers will save American democracy.
As you'll see, I was less interested in the details of any single litigation than in extrapolating cross-cutting themes, lessons, and strategies from several dozen lawsuits. The talk is a reflection of my ever-evolving perspective on the role that lawyers can (and should) play in seeking to defend democracy in the age of Trump. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your feedback.