Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Federal Prosecutor?: A Response to Professor David G. Post

 

You can find Professor David G. Post’s Volokh Conspiracy post here: <https://reason.com/volokh/2025/02/17/more-on-the-outrageous-eric-adams-deal/>. Professor Post is critical of a prior blog post by Professor Josh Blackman for relying on a Tillman-authored 2022 article on Lawfare. Apparently, in his unaltered post, Professor Post characterized me as a “former prosecutor.” But I am not a current or former prosecutor. When his (Professor Post’s) error in reporting my biographical information was brought to his attention, Professor Post made a correction. Professor Post added that my (Tillman’s) not having been a prosecutor weakens the argument which I had put forward in my 2022 Lawfare article. Indeed, he affirms (in the comments above) that Professor Blackman’s reliance on my 2022 Lawfare article makes Blackman’s “argument . . . even more ridiculous” as I am “just a law prof[essor].”

As far as I know, Professor Post (like me) has never been a “former prosecutor.” On his publications, he lists his academic title: “Professor.” Oddly, Professor Post does not consider whether his not having been a former prosecutor weakens his argument. Why is that? 

Are standards only for people you disagree with? 

My own view is that whether or not, he (Professor Post) or I have been prosecutors, our arguments should be primarily judged on their merits. My article (unlike his Volokh Conspiracy post) was intensively reviewed by editors at Lawfare—many (if not most) of whom are former federal prosecutors. And Lawfare is hardly a playground for right-of-center voices, right? And my article has been cited and linked to. Has Professor Post’s Volokh Conspiracy post been cited?

For those of you who would like to review my 2022 Lawfare article, see Seth Barrett Tillman, Not a Panacea: Trump Disqualification and Plea Bargains, Lawfare: Hard National Security Choices (Sept. 20, 2022, 8:31 AM), <https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/not-panacea-trump-disqualification-and-plea-bargains>, <http://ssrn.com/abstract=4194941>. 

Seth Barrett Tillman, Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Federal Prosecutor?: A Response to Professor David G. Post, New Reform Club (Feb. 19, 2025, 9:27 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2025/02/are-you-now-or-have-you-ever-been.html>;