Trump's Coup-Excusing Apologists in the Legal Academy: It is Even Worse than it Looks
"As Mr. Trump’s rhetoric grows ever more vengeful and openly authoritarian, a great deal turns on the willingness of members of the legal profession to make common cause with him." Kate Shaw, a law professor at Penn, wrote those words in a New York Times op-ed a couple of days ago. Although Shaw's focus was on the upcoming election-related scramble, her words are just as relevant to what has already happened regarding Trump's thirst for absolute power. Who are the members of the legal profession who will pave the way to turn Trump's worst impulses into horrific reality? Last week, I wrote a column in response to an NYT op-ed by another law professor, Jack Goldsmith at Harvard, who worked himself into high dudgeon over the decision by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith to proceed with the federal criminal case against Trump in Washington, DC, regarding the January 6th insurrection. In classic concern-troll style, Goldsmith wrote that Smith "owes us an explanat