Harry Litman

La Jolla

Executive Producer and Host at Talking Feds

Founder and Writer at Talking Feds Substack

Host & exec prod, @talkingfedspod. FCA Lawyer. Teach con law at UCSD& UCLA. Senior Fellow USC. Former US Atty, Dep Assis AG. Former LATimes Columnist.

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Articles

It's Just His Nature: Scorpion Trump Stings Frog Leo In Lawless Rage

3 weeks ago | nationalmemo.com | Harry Litman

Leonard Leo, the bête noire of liberals who curated Trump’s first-term judicial appointments, including his three Supreme Court justices, has gone from Trump's shortlist to his shit list. As is his wont, Trump turned on his loyal servant with particular savagery, calling him a “sleazebag” who had rendered bad advice on a series of judicial nominations.
Talking Trump Losses Across the Eastern Seaboard with Harry Litman

3 weeks ago | allrisenews.com | Adam Klasfeld |Harry Litman

All Rise News routinely goes on location to where the news breaks. That takes time, resources, and support. Help sustain reporting that shines a light on legal news other outlets miss. One day, a federal judge in Boston rejected the Trump administration’s effort to avoid a trial seeking to block a policy targeting student protesters for deportation.
Why Trump Moved Leonard Leo From the Short List to the Sh*t List

3 weeks ago | newrepublic.com | Harry Litman

Leonard Leo, the bête noire of liberals who curated Trump’s first-term judicial appointments, including his three Supreme Court justices, has gone from Trump’s short list to his shit list. As is his wont, Trump turned on his loyal servant with particular savagery, calling him a “sleaze bag” who had rendered bad advice on a series of judicial nominations.
Why Trump Moved Leonard Leo From the Short List to the Sh*t List

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Harry Litman

Leonard Leo, the bête noire of liberals who curated Trump’s first-term judicial appointments, including his three Supreme Court justices, has gone from Trump’s short list to his shit list. As is his wont, Trump turned on his loyal servant with particular savagery, calling him a “sleaze bag” who had rendered bad advice on a series of judicial nominations.
Taco Tuesday Every Day

3 weeks ago | contrarian.substack.com | Harry Litman

This week on : the Elon Musk Era of government came to an abrupt end as the architect of DOGE left the Administration, somewhat the worse for wear and tear. What remains in his wake of DOGE’s slash-and-burn agenda is unclear. Senator Barbara Boxer, Mara Liasson, and Stuart Stevens join Harry to assess the Musk experiment. We then move on to Trump’s no-holds-barred war against Harvard, and the damage it threatens for the school and American society as a whole.
Coffee with the Contrarians 06/02

3 weeks ago | contrarian.substack.com | Harry Litman

Archive of live conversations with special guests on news essential to safeguarding against autocracy. Get your morning dose of democracy on Coffee with The Contrarians, with Co-founders Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen. Jared Bernstein answers your questions about all things economy on Let's Do Lunch. Plus, breaking legal and political news. Archive of live conversations with special guests on news essential to safeguarding against autocracy.
"Fight Fiercely, Harvard!"

1 month ago | contrarian.substack.com | Harry Litman

A terrific round table of Alisyn Camerota, Bill Kristol, and Mike Podhorzer join Harry on to analyze a week in which only a couple things went right for Trump, but they were big-ticket items. The House R’s dragged the “big beautiful bill” over the finish line by a single vote. And the Supreme Court gave Trump a big victory that will permit him to fire leaders of certain important agencies without cause. But otherwise the courts forcefully rejected Trump’s overreaching executive orders.
Trump's Injustice System Is Deeply Abnormal -- And Truly Authoritarian

1 month ago | nationalmemo.com | Harry Litman

Veterans of the Department of Justice, including me, did our best to sound the alarm bell as the Trump/Bondi regime made clear its plans to do away with the professional norms that have guided prosecutorial behavior for generations. It was a tricky argument. For the vast majority of people who haven’t served in the department or internalized its virtually hallowed set of operating principles, the panicked cry that “the norms are falling” could be hard to appreciate. It sounds abstract and lawyerly.
Down the road of criminal contempt? (Live video with Harry Litman)

1 month ago | allrisenews.com | Adam Klasfeld |Harry Litman

The Trump administration’s actions have been called “lawless” by multiple federal judges. Three courts are probing whether officials engaged in criminal contempt. Our system still has checks and balances: One is journalism that empowers the People. In nearly two decades as a legal journalist, I struggle to remember any time before this year when a federal judge warned sitting U.S. government officials that they faced a risk of criminal contempt.
Art of the Self Deal

1 month ago | contrarian.substack.com | Harry Litman

If you like your presidential travel mixed with $B self-enrichment for Trump and sons, this is the week for you, guided by a terrific panel of Peter Baker, Tara Setmayer, and Jacob Weisberg. Trump makes for the Gulf States with bags open for booty before coming back to face the unraveling of his big beautiful bill of tax breaks for the wealthy funded by sacrifices in health & welfare for the rest of us. We end with the legal landscape and the DOA scheme to suspend habeas corpus.