''Licensed to Lie reads like a cross between investigative journalism and courtroom drama. The takeaway is that both Bushies and Obamaites should be very afraid: over the last few years, a coterie of vicious and unethical prosecutors who are unfit to practice law has been harbored within and enabled by the now ironically named Department of Justice.'' --William Hodes, Professor of Law Emeritus, Indiana University, and coauthor, The Law of Lawyering
''When you ve finished reading this fast-paced thriller, you will want to stand up and applaud Powell's courage in daring to shine light into the darkest recesses of America's justice system. The only ax Powell grinds here is Truth.'' --Patricia Falvey, author of The Yellow House and The Linen Queen, and former Managing Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP
''Last year four government officials demonstrably lied under oath, and nothing has been done to them--two IRS officials, the Attorney General, and James Clapper-which caused Ed Snowden to release the fact that the US is spying on its citizens and in violation of the 4th amendment. That our government is corrupt is the only conclusion. This book helps the people understand the nature of this corruption-and how it is possible for federal prosecutors to indict and convict the innocent rather than the guilty.'' --Victor Sperandeo, CEO and author, Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master
''This book is a testament to the human will to struggle against overwhelming odds to right a wrong and a cautionary tale to all-that true justice doesn't just exist as an abstraction apart from us. True justice is us, making it real through our own actions and our own vigilance against the powerful who cavalierly threaten to take it away.'' --Michael Adams, PhD, University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of English Associate Director, James A. Michener Center for Writers, University of Texas--Austinor
''I have covered hundreds of court cases over the years and have witnessed far too often the kind of duplicity and governmental heavy-handedness Ms. Powell describes in her well-written book, Licensed to Lie.'' --Hugh Aynesworth, journalist, historian, four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, author, November 22, 1963: Witness to History
KIRKUS REVIEW
A former Justice Department lawyer, who now devotes her private practice to federal appeals, dissects some of the most politically contentious prosecutions of the last 15 years.
Powell assembles a stunning argument for the old adage, “nothing succeeds like failure,” as she traces the careers of a group of prosecutors who were part of the Enron Task Force. The Supreme Court overturned their most dramatic court victories, and some were even accused of systematic prosecutorial misconduct. Yet former task force members such as Kathryn Ruemmler, Matthew Friedrich and Andrew Weissman continued to climb upward through the ranks and currently hold high positions in the Justice Department, FBI and even the White House. Powell took up the appeal of a Merrill Lynch employee who was convicted in one of the subsidiary Enron cases, fighting for six years to clear his name. The pattern of abuse she found was repeated in other cases brought by the task force. Prosecutors of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen pieced together parts of different statutes to concoct a crime and eliminated criminal intent from the jury instructions, which required the Supreme Court to reverse the Andersen conviction 9-0; the company was forcibly closed with the loss of 85,000 jobs. In the corruption trial of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a key witness was intimidated into presenting false testimony, and as in the Merrill Lynch case, the prosecutors concealed exculpatory evidence from the defense, a violation of due process under the Supreme court’s 1963 Brady v. Maryland decision. Stevens’ conviction, which led to a narrow loss in his 2008 re-election campaign and impacted the majority makeup of the Senate, seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back; the presiding judge appointed a special prosecutor to investigate abuses. Confronted with the need to clean house as he came into office, writes Powell, Attorney General Eric Holder has yet to take action.
The author brings the case for judicial redress before the court of public opinion.
Review
Reviewed by John Senger
May 27, 2014
Powell has done the law and every citizen a great favor by calling out an unholy practice of government attorneys.
Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice, by defense attorney Sidney Powell, is a lurid tale of deceit and amoral behavior on the part of government prosecutors. It is so well written and researched that the story makes for a stunning read.
Powell is an experienced trial and appellate court attorney. She has an ability to make complex legal and related factual issues clear to the most casual reader and has applied these skills to revealing the practice of US attorneys deliberately suppressing evidence that reflects the innocence of a defendant. This practice is rampant, Powell argues, despite the prosecutors’ constitutional duty to disclose such evidence. As examples of the havoc this practice wreaks, Powell discusses the prosecution of former Alaska senator Ted Stevens and the work of the Federal Special Task Force appointed in the wake of the financial collapse of Enron in 2001, among other cases. Powell pulls no punches. She calls out by name the prosecutors she believes engaged in unethical and deceitful behavior. She is adept at keeping several plots moving in parallel worlds. When necessary, she provides direct quotes from trial transcripts and court orders to support her arguments.
This sad story also reveals how Powell lost faith in the justice system she served, having represented an individual she believed was wrongly convicted in matters relating to the Enron scandal. In a spectacular epilogue, Powell outlines what has become of the various players involved in the proceedings she chronicled in the book. Several of the miscreants escaped punishment and, in fact, were promoted.
As a US attorney, Powell has prosecuted about 350 criminal cases. During her career, she had the utmost faith in the criminal justice system and particularly the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas. In a candid admission at the end of the book, she notes, “As for me, I question deeply whether I can continue to practice law. I have lost trust and faith that most of the Fifth Circuit judges will do the tedious work, keep an open mind, put ideology aside, rule based solely on the law, and ferret out the true facts in the most difficult cases if it means ruling against the government. If one can be heartbroken by a court, I am.”
From the Inside Flap
"A tragic suicide, a likely murder, a tragic plane crash, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story giving them a frightening perspective on justice and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld. Licensed to Lie is the true story of the strong-arm, illegal, and unethical tactics used by headline-grabbing federal prosecutors in their narcissistic pursuit of power. Its scope reaches from the US Department of Justice to the US Senate to the White House and is a scathing attack on prosecutors, judges, and all those who turned a blind eye to egregious injustices in the aftermath of the Enron collapse. The ramifications continue today as this corrupt cabal of former prosecutors now populates powerful political positions. Licensed to Lie digs deeper than Conspiracy of Fools and The Smartest Guys in the Room, discloses evidence prosecutors hid for years, and dramatizes one shocking revelation after another. Based on her ten years' experience in the US Department of Justice and twenty years in private practice devoted to federal appeals, Sidney Powell leads readers to crucial questions: Did you know you can be prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned in this country for something that was not even a crime? That even after acquittal, you have no recourse against prosecutors who hide evidence vital to your defense? Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice is an alarming wake-up call to every concerned citizen."
About the Author
Sidney Powell served in the Department of Justice for ten years in Texas and Virginia and has devoted her private practice to federal appeals for the past twenty years. She was the youngest Assistant United States Attorney in the country and the youngest elected Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, for which she also served as President. Recognized by her peers as a ''Super Lawyer'' and named as one of the ''Best Lawyers in America'' for years, she has been lead counsel in more than 500 appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, resulting in more than 180 published opinions, and was President of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit. Powell's briefs have long been used as samples for practitioners on the website of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In Licensed to Lie, Powell leads readers through the disturbing events, missteps, cover-ups, malfeasance, and corruption of justice that have caused her to question the system she has been committed to for over thirty years. With the narrative style of a legal thriller, this true story captures the drama of the law, the real human costs and consequences of the corruption of justice, and cautions for anyone facing the Department of Injustice.
