Harry Litman
Harry P. Litman is an American lawyer, law professor and political commentator. He is a former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General. He currently is the legal affairs columnist for the Los Angeles Times Opinion page; a professor of Constitutional Law at UCLA and UCSD; a regular commentator on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News; a lawyer in private practice; and the creator and executive producer of the podcast "Talking Feds."
Early life and education
Litman grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was named a Presidential Scholar upon graduation from high school in 1976. He received his BA degree from Harvard College, and thereafter worked as a feature film production assistant in New York City and as a baseball journalist for the Associated Press. He received his JD degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was editor-in-chief of the California Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif.Early career
Litman served as a law clerk to Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; and Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Anthony Kennedy during the 1987–1989 Terms.Following his clerkships, Litman became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. While an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he was detailed to the Department of Justice's main office in Washington, D.C., to work on several national cases, including the federal re-prosecution of the Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King case. From 1993 to 1998 he was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice, coordinating the department's work on a number of issues and advising the Attorney General and other officials on questions of constitutional law and prosecutorial policy. Simultaneously, he was a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In that capacity, he was co-counsel for Operation Underhand, prosecuting a narcotics ring that smuggled drugs into prison under the guise of providing religious counseling.
In 1998, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President Bill Clinton. As U.S. Attorney, Litman developed a nationally recognized gun-violence reduction initiative known as Operation Target, and personally litigated cases in the district court and the court of appeals. In July 2000, President Clinton nominated Litman for a judgeship on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, but the Senate adjourned without considering the nomination. While in government, Litman also taught at Berkeley Law School, Georgetown Law School and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
After leaving government, Litman was appointed a Distinguished Visitor and Fellow at Princeton University's School of Law and Public Affairs. He taught at Princeton and Rutgers University while working in private practice, with specialties in constitutional law and the federal False Claims Act.
Notable cases in private practice
Litman was lead counsel for the relator in Washington v. EDMC, a False Claims Act case against a for-profit education chain. The case resulted in the largest settlement ever in an FCA case involving the U.S. Department of Education. He was counsel for Richard Cordray, then director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in contemplated litigation against President Trump to prevent Cordray's termination. Litman represented Pittsburgh Mayor Thomas J. Murphy Jr. in a successful effort to prevent indictment on federal charges. He also served as co-counsel by appointment of the Department of Justice in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.A Democrat, Litman served as Pennsylvania state counsel to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and post-election counsel for Western Pennsylvania to the Obama-Biden presidential campaign in 2008.
Current professional life
Litman currently works as a lawyer, professor, and political commentator.Legal and political writing
Litman is the legal affairs columnist for the Los Angeles Times Opinion page, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, where he writes regular columns on the Department of Justice, Supreme Court, and other legal issues. From 2018 to 2020, he was a contributing columnist for The Washington Post. From 2017 to 2018, he was a regular contributor of opinion commentary to the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Lawfare, among others. He is also a regular commentator on legal issues for national television and cable networks, including MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News. Litman is a regular speaker at legal conferences and has written scripts for law-related television shows.Teaching and scholarship
Litman teaches Constitutional Law and National Security Law at UCLA School of Law and University of California, San Diego School of Political Science. He previously has taught at Berkeley Law School, Georgetown Law School, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy, and Rutgers University–Camden Law School. He has authored and co-authored several articles on constitutional law, criminal law, and federalism.Private practice
Litman is of counsel with the law firm Constantine Cannon in San Francisco, where he focuses on False Claims Act cases, and is principal in his own law firm. He is listed in "Best Lawyers of America" in 3 separate categories—Commercial Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense, and Qui Tam Law.Talking feds podcast
In March 2019, Litman launched the podcast "Talking Feds," a round-table of prominent former federal officials discussing the most pressing legal issues of the day. It has been named the second-best political podcast in the country to prepare listeners for the 2020 election.Talking Feds debuted at No. 17 in the Apple Podcast Top 100 and made the Apple "New and Noteworthy" List. In addition to former prosecutors, Talking Feds has featured members of Congress and prominent academics. It incorporates a "sidebar" feature in which well-known person from various walks of life explain fundamental legal and prosecutial concepts. Recent sidebar participants include ex-Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers, composer Philip Glass, filmmaker Rob Reiner, actors Brad Whitford, Jane Lynch and Toni Trucks, musicians Laurie Anderson, Shawn Colvin and Bettye LaVette, magician Penn Jillette, and professors Laurence Tribe and Erwin Chemerinsky.