News: As House Democrats prepare to go to battle with Republicans in the Trump 2.0 era, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) brought in some unusual voices to speak to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee: a pair of social psychologists.
During a retreat last week for Judiciary Democrats, Raskin — the new ranking member of the key panel — hosted Jim Coan, a University of Virginia professor of psychology, and Hal Movius, a consultant who specializes in “negotiation,” “influence,” “emotion regulation,” “leadership” and “organizational development.”
Coan’s “recent work emphasizes the neural systems supporting social forms of emotion regulation,” according to his bio with UVa. The retreat was held at the Library of Congress.
The purpose of the session, according to multiple attendees, was to counsel Democrats about how to approach conflict and effectively combat what Raskin described as “authoritarian styles of speech.” Another attendee said Judiciary Democrats were also advised to avoid devolving into partisan mud-slinging — a more common hallmark of the House Oversight Committee, which Raskin previously led as the top Democrat.
“They’re social psychologists, and they were just talking about communication and authoritarian styles of speech in the Trump age,” Raskin told us when asked about the speakers. “We were talking about basically communication styles during the Trump era.”
The outside-the-box speaker choices reflect how Raskin, a constitutional law professor, is approaching his new role as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Raskin will be going toe-to-toe with House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a top Trump ally and MAGA firebrand who has been the top Republican on the panel for the last four years.
“I think there’s some mutual respect. But I don’t think anyone’s taking off the gloves,” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), who sits on the panel, said of Raskin and Jordan’s relationship. “It will be a full-throated airing of opinions.”
Democrats have been grappling with how to respond to Trump ever since his victory in November, with some warning their party against reflexively resisting the president at every turn. Trump’s first actions as president — including a wave of executive actions cracking down on immigration and pardoning roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants — are putting Democrats’ messaging plans to the test.
And the Judiciary Committee will be home to some of the most high-profile battles over the next two years. Not only does the panel have jurisdiction over immigration, but Speaker Mike Johnson created a new select subcommittee on the Judiciary panel that will continue the GOP’s ongoing investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Other speakers featured at the Judiciary Democrats retreat include Lina Khan, the commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, and Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney.
