Neal Katyal

“President Trump has criticized the Mueller investigation, fired Jim Comey, savagely attacked the FBI, and repeatedly suggested the Russia campaign influence in 2016 was a hoax. In the wake of all of this, the American people need to be assured that Mueller can carry out his investigation without interference.”

“If I got my hands on the Mueller report, the thing I'd want to see is what are the reasons why Barr made the conclusion about obstruction of justice that he did? Was it because of the facts? If so, why didn't he try and interview Trump to learn all the facts?”

“Donald Trump is the swamp.”

“One thing we know about government after the New Deal is that checks and balances through whistle-blowing is terrible policy.”

“Trump abuses every privilege in the same way. It's kind of like King George. Take a legal concept and then stretch it beyond all recognition, and that's what you have Trump doing.”

“I like doing scholarship for its own sake.”

“Americans can tolerate some secrecy, particularly when it is rooted in protection of the public's interests. But when the claims appear to hide wrongdoing, they begin to curdle.”

“Executive branch rules require sensitive classified information to be discussed in specialized facilities that are designed to guard against the possibility that officials are being targeted for surveillance outside of the workplace.”

“Every time a president invokes executive privilege, there are three relevant audiences he has to think about: the courts, Congress, and the public.”

“I don't want to get into predicting how Judge Gorsuch would vote on the Supreme Court as a Justice Gorsuch. But I will say that those of us who've seen him in court as a judge, those of us who have worked with him as I have on a appellate rules committee, understand that this is a man who brings independence and integrity to the job.”

“My parents wanted to keep me away from girls, so they sent me to a Catholic boy's school, the Loyola Academy in Chicago.”

“Our founders recognized that 'men were not angels' and that checks and balances in government were critical to avoid threats to the rule of law.”

“I never want to be in the business of predicting what the U.S. Supreme Court will do.”

“I said that my parents had come from India. They thought America was a place where people were treated equally, and their kids would have an amazing life.”

“Justice Scalia was usually particularly challenging to me at oral argument, but I so respected his intellect and commitment to the pursuit of truth.”

“When I was at the Justice Department, there were these people who I called legal Houdinis, who - they would find any law; they would find a loophole and a way around it and often very tendentious and not true, and, you know, these are people who didn't respect the rule of law. But, you know, those people were there.”

“Firing the prosecutor who's about to get you or your campaign is kind of quintessential obstruction of justice.”

“My wife is a doctor at a veteran's hospital.”

“Appointing special counsel Robert Mueller to probe Russian meddling in the 2016 election (and any possible ties to President Trump's campaign) was the only choice the Justice Department had. This is the best way to deal with the conflicts and potential conflicts of interest these matters posed.”

“One of our Constitution's greatest virtues is that it looks to judges as a source of reasoned, practical, rights-minded decision making.”