Russia is attacking American democracy. Special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE is investigating the Russian attack against American democracy.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsGOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez call for convention to decide Puerto Rico status MORE resigned, and acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker will likely impede, obstruct and destroy the Mueller investigation. This must not stand.

Whitaker should be removed as acting attorney general and be replaced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinDOJ kept investigators from completing probe of Trump ties to Russia: report Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report FBI officials hid copies of Russia probe documents fearing Trump interference: book MORE until a new nominee can be sent to the Senate for confirmation.

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In an op-ed for The New York Times, former President Obama's former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal and prominent litigator George Conway III (a widely respected conservative), joined together to declare Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general to be illegal. They are right.

According to Katyal and Conway, under the Constitution, anyone holding the post of acting attorney general or any other “principal officer of the United States” must have been previously confirmed for some high office by the Senate. Whitaker was not.

Katyal and Conway argue that Whitaker’s appointment is illegal. It is unconstitutional. For this reason anything that Whitaker does or tries to do as acting attorney general would be invalid.

Any attempt by Whitaker to impede the Mueller investigation would constitute an act of obstruction of justice that could be prosecuted under federal law until the statute of limitations for this alleged crime has expired.

There are other compelling reasons that Whitaker should not serve as acting attorney general. He is utterly unqualified for the post.

He has served on the advisory board of a company that the Federal Trade Commission called a “scam," and according to a story in The Washington Post, he was allegedly paid by that company and cited his previous post as a U.S. attorney to threaten a claimant against the company that “there could be serious civil and criminal consequences.”

Whitaker holds some bizarre and ridiculous legal views. As recently as 2014, he claimed that the Supreme Court is an inferior branch of government and attacked the very notion of judicial review of the constitutionality of executive and legislative acts.

These preposterous views would destroy the Supreme Court and the entire federal judiciary, treat the president as a king above the law and horrify both the conservative and liberal legal communities.

The inspector general of the Department of Justice should investigate this appointment and investigate all of the persistent and aggressive attempts of the Trump administration to politicize and interfere with the fair administration of justice throughout the first two years of the Trump presidency.

I fully expect that when Democrats assume control of the House, the inspector general of the Department of Justice will be asked about these matters in open hearings before appropriate congressional committees.

For the same reasons, Whitaker will be asked about these matters in open hearings of these committees if he remains as acting attorney general at that time.

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Because Mueller and grand juries were well aware in recent months of the possibility of a Saturday Night Massacre shortly after the midterm elections, the odds are high that we may soon learn of major indictments that have been issued and sealed to avoid interfering in the elections.

Before the election, I wrote that voters should, “Vote Democrat in midterms to rein in Trump, preserve justice.” Voters did. Democrats will.

Only hours after Trump named Whitaker as acting attorney general, the same voters who elected a Democratic House began a wave of public demonstrations demanding the defeat of any attempt to obstruct, impede or destroy the Mueller investigation of the Russian attack against American democracy.

In their important op-ed, Katyal and Conway declared that Whitaker’s installation “makes a mockery of our Constitution and our founder’s ideals” and asserted that “Constitutionally, Matthew Whitaker is a nobody." They are right.

I predict that if this matter is litigated, which it certainly will be if Whitaker continues as acting attorney general, the Supreme Court will rule, possibly by a unanimous vote, that this appointment is constitutionally illegitimate.

Mueller must be protected. Democracy must be defended. The mandate of the midterms must be honored. The rule of law must be upheld. The Russian attack on America must be defeated. Obstruction of justice must be prevented. The Constitution must be preserved. Whitaker must be removed.

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.