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Tone & Substance

By K.C. Johnson

I suspect that the 9/11 Commission public hearings introduced most people to Jamie Gorelick. In contrast to ineffective questioners such as Bob Kerrey, Jim Thompson, or Richard Ben-Veniste, Gorelick?and fellow commissioner Tim Roemer?proved an incisive cross-examiner, someone with impressive knowledge of the myriad issues associated with the commission. How, then, to explain the contrast between the brilliant Gorelick of the commission hearings and her intellectually pedestrian motions in the civil case? Partly, of course, it?s a matter of role: as a 9/11 commissioner, Gorelick was seeking the truth; as a lawyer in the civil case, she?s representing a client. Even given her role as an advocate, though, how does this Gorelick passage advance her client?s legal case? A patient was brought to the hospital claiming an atrocious deed had been done to her; the hospital staff rendered her assistance, as they should have done; and subsequently, when the police officers and prosecutor carrying out the investigation asked a hospital employee for information, the employee cooperated...continue to full post

Full post as published by Durham-in-Wonderland on July 21, 2008 (boomark / email).