The Easy Path to Firing Mueller

The easiest way for President Donald Trump to fire special counsel Robert Mueller is to begin by firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The U.S. Department of Justice regulation that governs special counsel Mueller allows him to be fired only by the U.S. Attorney General and only for “good cause.” Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself, Rosenstein now has the exclusive power to fire Mueller. If President Trump fires Rosenstein, as he can at any time without giving any reason, Solicitor General Noel Francisco would then have the power to fire Mueller for “good cause.” It is easy to predict that Francisco would fire Mueller for “good cause.” We know Francisco’s views on the “good cause” limit on the power to fire Mueller because he described them in detail in the brief he filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in February in Lucia v. SEC. In that case, the issue centers on the analogous “good…

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