Rod Rosenstein served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States from April 2017 to May 2019. For 12 years prior, he had been a U.S. Attorney in Maryland. During the implementation of family separation, Rosenstein directed U.S. Attorneys on the U.S.-Mexico border to continue prosecutions that separated families, regardless of how young the children were.
Rosenstein Left Department Of Justice In March 2019. [Reuters, 2/18/19]
Rosenstein Is Represented By United Talent Agency. [United Talent Agency – Rod Rosenstein, accessed 11/12/20]
January 2020: Rosenstein Joined King & Spalding As Partner Specializing In Government Investigations. “Rod J. Rosenstein, the former No. 2 Justice Department official whose tumultuous two-year tenure was defined by the special counsel investigation he initiated, is joining the King & Spalding law firm’s special government investigations team, the firm announced Wednesday. … Rosenstein said he chose King & Spalding because of the firm’s international profile and “collegial culture.” He said he had been impressed with lawyers from the firm with whom he worked over the years. … Wick Sollers, chair of the firm’s special matters and government investigations practice, said: “Rod deserves his well-earned reputation for being decisive and unflappable in extraordinary professional situations. His experiences conducting and supervising large criminal and civil litigation uniquely qualify him to counsel and defend clients facing complex investigations, lawsuits and enforcement matters.”” [Washington Post, 1/8/20; King & Spalding, accessed 11/12/20]
King & Spalding Chairman Cited Rosenstein’s “Unquestioned Integrity” In Announcing His Role At Firm. ““Rod Rosenstein is an exceptional trial lawyer, strategist and leader with unquestioned integrity and toughness,” said Robert D. Hays, Jr., chairman of King & Spalding. “His arrival underscores the firm’s longstanding commitment to effective advocacy on the most complex and highest stakes government-related matters. Our clients will benefit from the unique experience of Rod and other senior government officials working together as a team. His arrival reflects the firm’s intent to continue building leading practices led by extraordinary lawyers to serve clients on their most pressing and sensitive needs.”” [King & Spalding press release, 1/8/20]
February 2020: Rosenstein Delivered Keynote Address At ALM’s Legal Week Conference. [King & Spalding, 2/4/20]
July 2020: Rosenstein Was Elected To The American Law Institute (ALI). “King & Spalding partner Rod Rosenstein has been elected as a new member of the American Law Institute (ALI), the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law.” [King & Spalding, 7/20/20]
Headline: Washington Post: “‘I think we got all the big issues right’: Rod Rosenstein, joining law firm, reflects on tumultuous time at Justice Dept.” [Washington Post, 1/8/20]
Headline: New York Times: “‘We Need to Take Away Children,’ No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said.” [New York Times, 10/6/20]
Rosenstein Instructed Prosecutors That It Did Not Matter How Young The Children Separated From Their Parents Were & Admonished Lawyers For Failing To Prosecute Two Cases Involving Infants. “Rod J. Rosenstein, then the deputy attorney general, went even further in a second call about a week later, telling the five prosecutors that it did not matter how young the children were. He said that government lawyers should not have refused to prosecute two cases simply because the children were barely more than infants. “Those two cases should not have been declined,” John Bash, the departing U.S. attorney in western Texas, wrote to his staff immediately after the call. Mr. Bash had declined the cases, but Mr. Rosenstein had overruled him. “Per the A.G.’s policy, we should NOT be categorically declining immigration prosecutions of adults in family units because of the age of a child.”” [New York Times, 10/6/20]
Rosenstein Took Position That Other Departments Were Responsible For Separated Children, Tracking Parents – “I Just Don’t See That As A DOJ Equity.” “Senior Justice Department officials viewed the welfare of the children as the responsibility of other agencies and their duty as tracking the parents. “I just don’t see that as a D.O.J. equity,” Mr. Rosenstein told the inspector general.” [New York Times, 10/6/20]
New York Times: “Rosenstein Pushed Aggressively To Expand The Practice” Of Family Separation Prosecutions. “After the pilot program in Texas ended, the report asserted, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Rosenstein pushed aggressively to expand the practice across the entire southwestern border, with help from prosecutors.” [New York Times, 10/6/20]
