They fought the law for Donald Trump. Now they will help him enforce it.
On Thursday, Trump announced that he had chosen members of his defense team to fill top positions within the Justice Department.
Todd Blanche, who represented Trump in several criminal cases, will be named to the second most powerful position in the Justice Department: deputy attorney general. Emil Bove, the lawyer handling Trump’s hush money case in New York, will also hold a high-ranking position in the department.
Dr. John Sauer, who won Trump’s historic presidential immunity case before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, will be his nominee for U.S. solicitor general.
If all are confirmed, they would report to Trump’s chosen U.S. attorney general, Matt Gaetz, a conservative who has been a staunch supporter of the president-elect.
Although Trump’s lawyers have a more traditional background than Gaetz’s, Trump’s stated intentions to overhaul the department and pursue the “enemy within,” as well as the appointments, have raised questions among legal scholars about the future of the Ministry of Justice.
“It’s a pretty clear signal that he is directing the Ministry of Justice towards loyalty to him rather than independence, as has been the tradition until now,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at the faculty of New York law.
All three attorneys proved to be creative and consistent defenders of Trump as he fought four separate criminal indictments last year.
Trump announced that Mr. Blanche would work to “fix what has been a failed justice system for far too long.”
Both Mr. Blanche and Mr. Bove have prior experience in the Justice Department, working in what is arguably its most prestigious jurisdiction: the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
Mr. Blanche became head of violent crimes at the SDNY before joining the prestigious WilmerHale law firm, then striking out on his own – only to take on America’s most high-profile criminal defendant.
“They certainly have relevant experience, certainly prosecutorial experience,” said Jonathan Nash, a professor at Emory School of Law.
Mr. Blanche, he added, would have management experience acquired at the SDNY, an asset for an assistant attorney general.
Mr. Blanche adopted some of Trump’s bombastic posturing at the New York criminal trial earlier this year, openly attacking the personalities of witnesses and repeatedly arguing with the judge. Some experts believe that these tactics may have contributed to Trump’s loss.
But in a few days, Mr. Blanche could score his biggest victory yet: overturning the only criminal conviction against Trump in his secret trial. He and Mr. Bove argued that Trump’s conviction in New York should be overturned.
As solicitor general of the United States, Mr. Sauer would represent the government before the Supreme Court. He previously served as solicitor general in Missouri, and legal experts said that made him an unsurprising choice.
Mr. Sauer has already secured a major victory for Trump at the nation’s highest court as Trump sought to prevent federal lawsuits against his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Mr. Sauer successfully argued before the Supreme Court that presidents should enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution for certain “official acts” during the exercise of his functions.
Most recently, Mr. Sauer argued before a New York appeals court that Trump’s nine-figure fine in a civil fraud lawsuit should be overturned. The court has not yet issued a decision.
It is not uncommon for U.S. presidents to appoint close legal allies to the Justice Department and other judicial positions.
President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, to be attorney general of the United States in the 1960s. President Lyndon B Johnson chose his former attorney Abe Fortas for the Supreme Court.
Since the Watergate era, however, the Justice Department has sought to position itself as essentially independent of the president.
But Trump tested that standard. During his first term, he fired an attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The runner-up, William Barr, resigned after pushing back against Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections.