What Slate was saying about Scott Newton Schools on June 26, 2017

Schools is “the most important unknown person in D.C.,” said Gregory Harris, a defense lawyer who served alongside him in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina. And while Schools’ job is one that “almost nobody outside of DOJ knows about or understands,” in the words of Obama-era DOJ official Kathryn Ruemmler, it has never been more crucial to maintaining the department’s stability.

Schools’ official title is “associate deputy attorney general.” There are five others in that position, and while on paper Schools doesn’t outrank them, the reality is that he was hired by Yates in October to be a leader—someone who would operate as an apolitical civil servant at the highest echelon of the department and provide counsel in times of tumult.

Over the past week, I’ve tried to find out exactly what kind of advice Schools has been giving Rosenstein and how much Rosenstein has relied on him while thinking through the high-stakes predicaments that have come his way. I’m not too proud to admit I’ve failed in this effort: The Justice Department declined to make either Schools or Rosenstein available for an interview.

It would be surprising and dismaying, ex-DOJ officials say, if Rosenstein wasn’t seeking input from Schools.

However, according to multiple ex-DOJ officials I’ve spoken to, it’s undeniable that Schools, who is 55, has been better positioned than anyone else to help the deputy attorney general make numerous critical decisions. Those include Rosenstein’s move to appoint a special counsel to take over the Russia investigation—and to tap former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the job—as well as Rosenstein’s own deliberations over whether he should recuse himself from the investigation. Given Rosenstein’s avowed respect for the DOJ’s career staff—as well as the fact that he only recently brought on a permanent chief of staff and a top political adviser—it would be surprising and dismaying, ex-DOJ officials told me, if he wasn’t seeking input from Schools.

“Scott Schools working closely with Rod is very reassuring,” said Julie Zebrak, who served as deputy chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General James Cole from 2013 to 2014. “Those of us who know them and who are watching what’s happening from the outside have a tremendous amount of faith that they will … preserve the integrity of the department and ensure the rule of law is observed.”

http://www.slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/if-trump-nominates-brett-kavanaugh-to-replace-kennedy-heres-what-we-need-to-know-about-russia.html