Politics

Dershowitz: Former Acting Attorney General Made A ‘Serious Mistake’ [VIDEO]

Heather Hunter Contributor
Font Size:

Attorney Alan Dershowitz told CNN’s Don Lemon that the fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates made a “serious mistake” by attempting to determine whether President Trump’s executive order restricting some refugee travel was “right.”

“Sally Yates made a very serious mistake. Instead of limiting herself to saying that she thought it was unconstitutional or illegal, she used the following words, that she had the right to decide whether the policy choice is ‘wise or just, and what is right.’ That’s not her job,” he said.

Yates, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, sparked a clash with the White House when she told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending the immigration executive order on refugees from terrorist countries.

The Trump White House responded by firing her and replacing her with Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

“[Yates] has betrayed the Department of Justice,” the White House statement said.

“Her job as attorney general is simply to determine whether the law is lawful. It’s the job of the elected president to determine whether the policy choice is wise or just,” Dershowitz told CNN.

The Harvard Law professor clarified that while he opposes the executive order, she made missteps in how she defied the administration.

“Now, this is a terrible policy. I’m completely opposed to it, but as attorney general, if she disagreed with the policy, her option was to resign,” he said. “But to disallow the entire Justice Department from defending a policy — at least parts of which are probably constitutional, parts of which are probably lawful, instead of giving a nuanced analysis — to forbid from defending it instead of resigning, was a serious mistake.”

Dershowitz followed his comments on her actions by noting that Trump made a mistake in firing her.