UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Plaintiff,
v.
DONALD F. MCGAHN II,
Defendant.
Civ. No. 19-cv-2379 (KBJ)
"Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded
American history is that Presidents are not kings. See The Federalist No. 51 (James
Madison); The Federalist No. 69 (Alexander Hamilton); 1 Alexis de Tocqueville,
Democracy in America 115–18 (Harvey C. Mansfield & Delba Winthrop eds. & trans.,
Univ. of Chicago Press 2000) (1835). This means that they do not have subjects, bound
by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control. Rather, in this land of
liberty, it is indisputable that current and former employees of the White House work
for the People of the United States, and that they take an oath to protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States. Moreover, as citizens of the United States, current
and former senior-level presidential aides have constitutional rights, including the right
to free speech, and they retain these rights even after they have transitioned back into
private life."
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