Bruce Fein, constitutional lawyer and international consultant, gives expert insight into separation of powers and the challenge to liberty that current administration policies present. He speaks on the subjects of checks and balances, and the use of presidential findings, the state secrets privilege, enemy combatant status, secret prisons and torture.
Fein argues for the appointment of judges and prosecutors who display “statesmanship and nonpartisanship” rather than allegiance to a particular office-holder. He reminds us that we should “never become complacent,” but instead remember our responsibility and ability to restrain government and promote freedom.
Bio sketch from The Litchfield Group:
Bruce Fein commands impressive experience and influence in the corridors of both national and international power. He graduated from Harvard Law School with honors in 1972. After a coveted federal judicial clerkship, he joined the U.S. Department of Justice where he served as assistant director of the Office of Legal Policy, legal adviser to the assistant attorney general for antitrust, and the associate deputy attorney general. Mr. Fein then was appointed general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission, followed by an appointment as research director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran. He recently served on the American Bar Association's Task Force on Presidential signing statements.
He is frequently quoted in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and other major national publications. He has been featured on the cover of the American Bar Association Journal, the legal profession's most prestigious publication.
He has authored several volumes on the United States Supreme Court, the United States Constitution, and international law. He has assisted three dozen countries in constitutional revision, including Russia, Spain, South Africa, Iraq, Cyprus, and Mozambique, and consulted foreign nations on matters ranging from telecommunications and cable regulation to sugar quotas, oil and gas pipelines, immigration, election laws, and human rights.
Mr. Fein has been an adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, a resident scholar at the Heritage Foundation, a lecturer at the Bookings Institute, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. He has also been executive editor of World Intelligence Review, a periodical devoted to national security and intelligence issues. He regularly lectures to foreign guests and dignitaries visiting the United States on behalf of the State Department.
At present, he writes weekly columns for The Washington Times and Capitol Leader, and a bi-weekly column for the Lexington Herald-Leader devoted to legal and international affairs. He is a guest columnist for numerous other newspapers, and articles for professional and lay journals. He is invited to testify regularly before Congress and administrative agencies by both Democrats and Republicans. He appears regularly on national and international television, cable, and radio programs as an expert in foreign affairs, international and constitutional law, telecommunications, terrorism, national security, and related subjects. He is a regular guest at the BBC, C-SPAN, CNN, Reuters, MSNBC, and NPR.