Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said Dershowitz had it backwards in suggesting that the public interest is whatever serves the president’s reelection campaign. “What we hope is that they at least think in terms of the nation’s interests and then align their personal interest with the public interest, the country’s interest,” Perry said. What’s more, she said, Dershowitz’s formulation could serve as a dangerous precedent for future presidents who might think they can do anything they want in the political arena, except for violation of a criminal statute. “Then there’s nothing to be done about a president who can make the case that I did it in my self-interest,” she said.
Barbara Perry
