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Author: Elijah Geltman听
Advisor: GTPI听Katherine Arnold-Murray
Class: LING 1000: Language in US Society
Semester: Summer 2022
LURA 2023

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鈥�You're an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we鈥檒l call you when there鈥檚 an oil spill.鈥� 鈥� Richard Donoghue, President Trump鈥檚 Acting Deputy Attorney General (2020-2021)

鈥淚 don鈥檛 get to be fired by someone who works for me.鈥� 鈥� Jeffery Rosen, President Trump鈥檚 Acting Attorney General (2020-2021)

These contentious remarks provide compelling examples of normative political language. They were said in a meeting held three days before January 6 th , 2021, in which President Donald Trump sought to appoint a Department of Justice environmental lawyer named Jeffrey Clark to the position of Attorney General. The Attorney General is the highest-ranking position in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and the 鈥渃hief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government鈥� (DOJ Office of AG). Trump sought to install Clark in this role because Clark supported his baseless claims of election fraud in the 2020 election and was willing to 鈥渨ield the powers of the DOJ to overturn the results of the 2020 election鈥� (Sprunt, 2022). If appointed to the position of Attorney General, Clark promised to issue official statements recommending that states won by Joe Biden report Donald Trump as the winner because of [non-existent] election fraud (Quinn, 2022). Should Clark have been appointed Attorney General, states might have been influenced to baselessly select Trump as the winner of the election.

However, Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen raised objections about Clark鈥檚 ability to be Attorney General. The language used to express dissent in this important moment in US political history provides insight into the study of normative and subordinating language.

I analyze this discussion using the concepts of categories and reference forms. Simply put, a reference form is a name we use to describe something in the world. Reference forms are generated by categories with social significance, such as gender and occupation. For example, given these categories, Clark can be called a man, a lawyer, or an environmental lawyer. Often, reference forms invoke normative qualities relating to categories. I apply Raymond鈥檚 (2019) understanding of categories and reference forms as providing 鈥渋nsight into participants' own practical, commonsense reasoning about the invoked categories 鈥� especially with regard to what constitutes normative, expected conduct for the [category] in question鈥� (Raymond, 2019, p. 590). Reference forms highlight the relevance of specific categories by which form is chosen, and make and support argumentative claims about which societal categories are relevant to a discussion.

1. Donoghue:听 听听 I made the point that Jeff Clark is not even competent to serve as the Attorney
2. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 General. He's never been a criminal attorney. He's never conducted a criminal
3. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听 听investigation in his life. He's never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial
4. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 jury. And he kind of听retorted by saying, "Well, I've done a lot of very complicated
5. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that." And I
6. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 said, 鈥淭hat's right. You're an environmental听lawyer. How about you go back to
7. 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill." (Source: House Select Committee, p. 126).

In the transcript above, Donoghue says, 鈥淗e鈥檚 never been a criminal attorney. He鈥檚 never conducted a criminal investigation in his life. He鈥檚 never been in front of a grand jury, much less a trial jury.鈥� By using these reference forms, Donoghue claims that the category of being unqualified to practice criminal law is relevant. Clark refers to categories that counter this claim. He refers to himself as someone who has 鈥渄one a lot of very complicated appeals and civil litigation, environmental litigation, and things like that.鈥� This language invokes categories that imply that Clark is qualified (i.e., that he is experienced with overall legal proceedings), disputing the relevance of Donoghue鈥檚 reference forms.

The idea of categories can help us evaluate the argumentative strength of Clark鈥檚 language. For example, Clark argues that the category of experience in civil law is relevant, and Donoghue claims that the category of experience in criminal law is relevant. But Clark鈥檚 choice of relevance is weaker because Donoghue selects categories that are incompatible with his claim not being valid. Having done 鈥渃omplicated appeals and civil litigation鈥� can be true, while it can also be true that Clark is not in the category of 鈥榪ualified to be Attorney General.鈥� Conversely, a reference form generated by the category 鈥榰nqualified to practice criminal law鈥� is incompatible with the category 鈥榪ualified to be Attorney General鈥� because the Attorney General is the highest-ranking criminal lawyer in the country. Thus, Donoghue鈥檚 language strengthens his argument more than Clark鈥檚.

When Donoghue responds by saying, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we鈥檒l call you when there鈥檚 an oil spill,鈥� he is invoking what is expected of a person who works in the domain of environmental law. It is not expected that someone whose relevant experience is cleaning up oil spills is qualified to be Attorney General. Similarly, Rosen told Clark during the meeting, 鈥淵ou went behind your boss鈥檚 back, and you鈥檙e proposing things that are outside your domain and you don鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e talking about,鈥� as well as, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 get to be fired by someone who works for me.鈥�

These reference forms invoke Clark鈥檚 actions. For example, Clark鈥檚 attempt to have his boss Jeffrey Rosen fired and working outside his domain are actions that reinforce Rosen and Donoghue鈥檚 claims about categories. This aligns with Raymond鈥檚 (2019) argument that categories are 鈥渃onsistently produced and reproduced in and through the conduct of social actors鈥� (p. 586). Action generates both the normative categories themselves and the use of their reference forms. Thus, it makes sense that we switch between reference forms and categories when we 鈥渦se variation in language to construct ourselves as social beings, to signal who we are, and who we are not and do not want to be鈥� (Lippi-Green, 2012).

By analyzing this discussion, I examine how social categories and their reference forms impact the strength of political arguments. Similarly, I examine how reference forms impact the use of normative and subordinating language.

Image听Credit听

Source (left): Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Source (right): Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

References听

1. Lippi-Green, Rosina. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. (Chapter 5: Language Subordination (Pg.66)) New York: Routledge.
2. Quinn, Melissa. Who Is Jeffrey Clark? Ex-DOJ Official Emerged as Central Player in Trump's Election Scheme. CBS News, CBS Interactive, 20 Dec. 2022, .
3. Raymond, C. (2019). Category accounts: Identity and normativity in sequences of action. Language in Society,听48(4), 585-606. doi:10.1017/S0047404519000368
4. Sprunt, Barbara. Former DOJ Officials Detail Threatening to Resign En Masse in Meeting with Trump. NPR, NPR, 24 June 2022, .
5. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Interview Of: Richard Peter Donoghue. 1 October 2021, RANSCRIPT-CTRL0000034600.pdf

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