Peter Keisler in Lawfare
Board Member Peter Keisler published a review in Lawfare of David Rohde’s “Where Tyranny Begins: The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War on Democracy” (W.W. Norton, 2025). He writes:
The book’s most interesting feature is its exploration of how concerns about reactions outside the Justice Department can distort deliberations inside it. We expect the department to make its law enforcement decisions courageously and on the merits, without regard to whether those decisions will be popular. At the same time, public confidence is essential to the department’s work, which critically depends on maintaining the trust of witnesses, informants, jurors, judges, and law enforcement partners at every level of government […]
Rohde’s interesting book illuminates the difficulties that adherence to the Justice Department’s long-standing norms can generate, but it is ultimately unclear whether and to what extent Rohde actually believes a markedly different balance should be struck. Many of those norms are grounded in principles of fundamental fairness, neutrality, and restraint in the exercise of power. A case against maintaining them would have to be based on more than simply showing that they weaken the department’s position on cable television.