Five Questions With Democracy's Lawyer, Norm Eisen

Tonight’s guest for Five Questions has been extremely busy since Donald Trump was inaugurated back in January. That’s because he’s one of the lawyers who has been litigating to keep the Trump administration in check. The old guardrails are gone; the new ones are the lawyers challenging Trump’s efforts to consolidate power in his hands. And few lawyers are involved in more cases than Norm Eisen.

Eisen is a co-founder of States United and CREW. He served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment and trial of President Donald J. Trump in 2019 and 2020. In addition to his lawyering, he is the publisher of The Contrarian and the author or editor of six books. Eisen was the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014. Before that, he worked in the Obama White House as special counsel and special assistant to the president for ethics and government reform. Eisen is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brown University.

I have known Norm for several years, but it was only while putting together this piece that I learned he was credited by director Wes Anderson as an inspiration for the character of the crusading lawyer Deputy Kovacs in the 2014 film “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” That has me considering a Wes Anderson film festival at home this weekend—we all need a little bit of fun to keep us going in the seriousness of the moment. But having a 30,000 foot view of what’s going on with these lawsuits is important to give us context for the individual rulings as they come down. That’s our work for this evening.

Jeff Goldblum as Deputy Kovacs in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

I’m grateful to Norm for taking time out of his busy schedule to help us understand the litigation he is involved in and how important it is for people who want to see democracy survive.

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