After graduating, Fein joined the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel just when the Watergate scandal was starting. His first task was drafting a 100-page memorandum on what constituted an impeachable offense. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, Fein was appointed assistant deputy attorney general, reporting directly to the department's No. 2, Ed Schmaltz.[4]
During the transition following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the Supreme Court's decision in Korematsu v. United States was suggested as offering possible support for implementing his policies targeting all Muslims in the United States.[17] Fein argued that subsequent revelations that the Court was misled, changes in attitudes, and notably the Congress passing the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 in which it apologized for the nation and made reparations for internment of Japanese Americans, history has in effect overturned the Korematsu decision.[18] While the Supreme Court has not actually overturned Korematsu,[19]Harvard University's Noah Feldman has come to the same conclusion, declaring that "Korematsu's uniquely bad legal status means it's not precedent even though it hasn't been overturned."[20] Both made arguments in line with Richard Primus' notion of "Anti-Canon" cases, those which have come to be seen as exemplars of faulty legal reasoning and / or decision making,[21] with Feldman comparing Korematsu to Plessy v. Ferguson[20] and Fein stating that it has "joined Dred Scott as an odious and discredited artifact of popular bigotry."[18]
Lon Snowden
In the summer of 2013, Fein was hired by Lon Snowden, father of fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.[22] However, Edward Snowden subsequently made clear that Fein did not represent him, explaining that certain comments about his relationship with Glenn Greenwald were misattributed as his own, rather than properly attributed to either Fein or Snowden's father.[23]
NSA lawsuit
In January 2014, Rand Paul announced he was filing a class-action suit against the Obama Administration over the warrantless surveying the PRISM program allowed the National Security Administration to use.[24] A controversy was stirred by the reporting that the lawsuit was drafted by Fein, but his name was replaced with Ken Cuccinelli's, the lead counsel on the lawsuit. Mattie Fein, Fein's ex-wife and spokeswoman, told a Washington Post reporter that "Ken Cuccinelli stole the suit," and that Rand Paul "already has one plagiarism issue, now has a lawyer who just takes another lawyer's work product."[25] Paul's PAC refuted these claims by producing an email from Fein stating that his ex-wife did not speak for him and that he was paid for his work.[26]
Together with David Saltzman, he represented alleged Armenian genocide denier Guenter Lewy through the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) in an action against the Southern Poverty Law Center. After filing a complaint,[33] the TALDF obtained a public statement of retraction of statements that Lewy was a paid agent of the government of Turkey, an apology from SPLC, and monetary compensation to Prof. Lewy.[34] Fein was also one of the attorneys for Rep. Jean Schmidt, another alleged Armenian genocide denier, in action against David Krikorian[35] and of the TCA against University of Minnesota.[36] The House Ethics Committee recently[when?] found that Fein had misled Schmidt by failing to disclose to her that his fees in connection with the litigation against David Krikorian were being paid by the TCA.[37]
Trump impeachment articles
In late 2019, with Donald Trump impeachment hearings underway, Fein appeared on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, presenting thirteen articles of impeachment. The articles include: contempt of Congress, violation of the Emoluments Clause, abuse of presidential powers and of the public trust, soliciting a foreign contribution and bribery, and suppression of free speech.[38][39]
Books
"American Empire: Before the Fall" Published by Campaign for Liberty, June 2010. ISBN1-4528-2953-5
American Empire: Before the Fall, the most recent of Fein's published works, condemns what it calls "the aggressive foreign policy of the United States" for being devoid of concrete objectives, and as such, doomed to war in perpetuity. According to Fein, foreign policy as it stands is earmarked by domination for the sake of domination and gaping wounds to the rule of law and separation of powers. Fein writes: "The larger national motivation is to dominate the world for the excitement of domination. The narrower particular motivation of the President is to reduce coequal branches of government to vassalage, to place the President above the law, and to justify secret government without accountability. James Madison's admonitions about presidential wars have been vindicated."[40]
"Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy" Published by Palgrave MacMillan, September 16, 2008. ISBN0-230-60288-6
Constitutional Peril was the first book authored by Fein intended for the general public. It was published while President Bush remained in office in 2008, and it made an impassioned argument in favor of impeachment for the President's unparalleled expansion of executive authority and multiple defilements of the rule of law. Fein's argument was presented on national television programs including Bill Moyers Journal.*[44]
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1978–1979 Term" Aei Pr, June 1980. ISBN0-8447-3387-3
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court" AEI Press, June 1987. ISBN0-8447-3568-X
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1979–1980 Term" Fred B. Rothman & Co, April 1985 ISBN0-8377-1135-5
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1977–1978 Term" AEI Press, 1979. ISBN0-8447-3360-1
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1975–1976 Term" Rowman & Littlefield, June 1977. ISBN0-8447-3283-4
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1973–1974 Term" AEI Press, 1975. ISBN0-8447-3176-5
"Significant Decisions of the Supreme Court: 1972–1973 Term" Rowman & Littlefield, June 1974. ISBN0-8447-1073-3
References
^Taylor, Stuart Jr. (February 28, 1988). "A Pair of Rehnquist Opinions Sets Legal Experts Buzzing". The New York Times. The message, asserts Bruce Fein, a Supreme Court authority at the conservative Heritage Foundation, was that conservatives should not expect sudden, revolutionary change in settled legal doctrines in these and perhaps other areas from the Rehnquist Court, at least with its current membership.
^ abLiptak, Adam (September 28, 2005). "Correction; Libel Memorandum Attributed Falsely To Court Nominee". The New York Times. p. A20. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2009. Bruce Fein, a Washington lawyer who was general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission in the Reagan administration, said yesterday that he wrote the memorandum, a caustic critique of New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 Supreme Court decision that revolutionized American libel law, and of the role played by the press in society.
^
Gilmore, Brian (December 2006). "A Conservative for Impeachment". The Progressive. Retrieved March 15, 2009. Fein cites the 1952 Supreme Court case of Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer as support for the proposition that the President does not have "inherent authority" to bypass legislative enactments of Congress in a time of war.
^"Perspectives". Newsweek. October 24, 2005. p. 27. Retrieved March 15, 2009. The tipping point in Washington is when you go from being a subject of caricature to the subject of laughter. She's in danger of becoming the subject of laughter.
^Johnston, David; Michael Janofsky (February 5, 2006). "Attorney General's Credibility May Be at Stake at Spy Hearing". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2009. Some legal experts see Mr. Gonzales as little more than a surrogate for President Bush, whom he has served in a variety of capacities since 1997, when Mr. Bush was governor of Texas. "Nothing in Al Gonzales's public statements, legislative proposals or anything else suggests that this is an individual who operates outside of the political gyroscope of President Bush," said Bruce Fein, an associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration.
^Isikoff, Michael (June 29, 2007). "Another DOJ Departure". Newsweek. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2009. The Titanic is sinking," Bruce Fein, a former top Justice Department official under the Reagan administration and a sharp Gonzales critic, said today about Hertling's resignation. "The fact is the department has become dysfunctional. Gonzales is going to be left with no subordinates.
^ abFein, Bruce; Viguerie, Richard; Keene, David; Barr, Bob; Whitehead, John W. (April 16, 2007). "The Letter: "An Unsuitable Steward of the Law"". Time. Archived from the original on April 18, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2009. The American Freedom Agenda, led by Viguerie, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, American Conservative Union chair David Keene, and Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein has bluntly assessed the failings of the Bush-Cheney administration when it comes to defending the Constitution and the Republic it serves. "Especially since 9/11, the executive branch has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power, and has repeatedly claimed that the President is the law," it declared. "The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence."
^Nichols `, John (August 28, 2007). "Attorney General Bruce Fein". New Nation. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2009. The American Freedom Agenda, led by Viguerie, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, American Conservative Union chair David Keene, Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein and Viguerie has bluntly assessed the failings of the Bush-Cheney administration when it comes to defending the Constitution and the Republic it serves. "Especially since 9/11, the executive branch has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power, and has repeatedly claimed that the President is the law," it declared. "The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence."