![handle is hein.journals/interal38 and id is 1 raw text is:
Too Close for Comfort: An Insider's View of Presidents and Their Attorneys
General
By Kris Olson*
The President's power to appoint the Attorney General of the United States as a member
of the Cabinet subject to dismissal contains the seeds of a fundamental rule of law crisis
in the politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice. We are acutely aware of it in these
times because of the shifting dynamics between our current President and his attorneys
general. However, this is not a new problem revolving around these particular
personalities. Readers of political history will recognize these recurring conflicts in at
least six prior federal administrations.
When faced with political pressure and/or cronyism in the White House, U.S. Attorneys
General (AGs) respond in markedly different ways. I've had the opportunity to observe
many of them at close hand.' Their reactions range from capitulation to confrontation and
pretty much everything in between. Each have earned their own monikers. The
Foxtrotter. The Wingman. The Co-Conspirator. The Company Man. The Stand-Up Lady.
The Witness. The Wallflower.
In the following Article, I devote a Section to each of the above AGs, beginning with
personal recollections buttressed by historical research. I identify promising and practical
areas for reform based on the larger implications of their conduct in office. I then amplify
and combine these ideas in the concluding Section, calling for more drastic measures to
rectify the missteps prompted by the inherent conflicts in the AG's appointment process.
Some of the following vignettes illuminate character; some are simply the fallout of
collateral circumstance. Yet all contain lessons worth conveying-and perhaps reforms
worth considering, especially in the current political climate.
The Foxtrotter
Attorney General William P. Rogers had divided allegiances. Rogers's primary objective
throughout his time as Dwight Eisenhower's AG was to get Vice President Richard
Nixon elected President. Both his workday and after-hours time was devoted to that end.
Indeed, whenever Nixon was running for office, Rogers rode on his campaign train
(1952, 1960, and 1968).2
* Kris Olson is the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, where she served from 1994-
200 1. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1969 and received her J.D. from Yale Law
School in 1972.
1 The bulk of this Article is based on personal observations and conversations with many of the
individuals involved. It is excerpted from a speech that I gave to the Chicago Crime Commission
on May 14th, 2018.
2 See RICHARD M. NIXON, SIX CRISES 70 (1962) (noting that when Rogers rode on the campaign
train, he habitually wander[ed] among the audiences as Nixon spoke to pick up reactions and
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