Jesse Panuccio Speaks at the Federalist Society of the Emerald Coast Meeting

Federalist Society of the Emerald Coast President Judge Gary Bergosh welcomes Jesse Panuccio to Pensacola Wednesday evening, June 19, 2019.

The Federalist Society of the Emerald Coast welcomed Jesse Panuccio to Pensacola Wednesday evening.  Mr. Panuccio, formerly the General Counsel to Governor (now Senator) Rick Scott in Florida most recently served as the number 3 official at the Department of Justice behind AG Sessions, and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.

He left the DOJ in April and is moving to South Florida to enter private practice.

Panuccio was Introduced to Pensacola by Federalist Society of the Emerald Coast President Judge Gary Bergosh, and a crowd of roughly 60 local attorneys, elected officials, former elected officials, and other interested citizens gave him a rousing ovation and warm welcome upon his introduction.

"Yes, I served in the DOJ over the last year, and No, I am not going to be talking about Mueller, Comey, or the Russia Investigations" he quipped to some muted laughter as he started his remarks.

"I'm not going to be writing a tell-all book now that I am gone" he stated.

His 40 minute speech centered around what he felt were several big issues that staff at DOJ under AG Sessions had accomplished to limit the power of that office in particular--and all government agencies in general. Many of these accomplishments garnered very little media attention, as most of the media coverage of that office centered around the more high-profile Russia Investigation.  During his speech, Mr. Panuccio quoted multiple times from James Madison's Federalist Papers -- particularly citing passages where Madison warns of particular government branches exceeding their authority and the dangers posed by this tendancy if left unchecked.

Jesse Panuccio speaks to a large crowd of attorneys and elected officials Wednesday, June 19th at Seville Quarter in Pensacola

He seemed proud of the fact that over his time at DOJ-the office took on and limited the power and prevalence of "Guidance-Documents" and "Consent-Decrees"--two mechanisms by which the staff of the previous administration's DOJ had utilized to shape policy and push ideologies upon local governments without express Congressional authorization.

He also discussed the way the DOJ has recently curtailed the practice of allowing entities with whom the department had reached settlements to pay portions of such settlements to "unrelated third-party entities that may have no connection to the issue of the settlements themselves" he explained. 

The topics were very cerebral--but the crowd remained keenly attentive as Mr. Panuccio moved


 through his presentation, citing multiple specific cases and actions the department had taken in the last year--and the significance of each. 

At the end of his remarks, after a brief question and answer session, he remained at the venue and spoke with many of the attendees one-on-one, answering questions and relating stories of his time in Washington DC.

I appreciate what the Federalist Society does locally as they continue to bring high-level speakers to our area, simultaneously drawing larger and larger crowds. 

I look forward to the next event in the fall.

Learn more about Jesse Panuccio here

Learn more about the Federalist Society of the Emerald Coast here.