Legal News

Against Dems Wishes, White House Pushes Bradbury

By Peter Lattman

Though it sometimes seems that way, John Yoo wasn’t the only DOJ official who helped define the Bush administration’s legal opinions on terrorism issues. There was also Steven Bradbury (pictured, left), a DOJ lawyer who wrote a series of classified legal opinions in 2005 authorizing controversial CIA interrogation techniques.

Today the NYT reports that Bradbury, whose nomination for a senior Justice Department post has stalled in the Senate, was renominated for the job by the White House yesterday. It’s “a move that was seen as a snub to Senate Democrats who have long opposed his appointment,” says the Times.

Bradbury has run the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel for two years without Senate confirmation. Senate Democrats have spatted with the DOJ over its not providing Congress with copies of classified legal opinions on a variety of terrorism issues, and they urged the White House to find a new man for the job.

But like Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the White House won’t back down. “Steve Bradbury is a dedicated public servant and a superb lawyer, who has led with distinction the department’s Office of Legal Counsel,” said a DOJ spokesman. “He has proven invaluable to the department, and we will continue to work with the Senate to get him confirmed.”

Said a spokesman for Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has led the effort to scuttle Bradbury’s nomination: “The president has thumbed his nose at Congress and chosen an individual who has been involved in authorizing some of the most controversial policies of this administration.”

Bradbury has classically conservative legal credentials. Prior to joining the Bush administration, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, where he worked with Ken Starr & Co. The Michigan Law grad also clerked for Justice Thomas and in 1982 co-founded the Federalist Society.(Law Blog Trivia: Bradbury shouldn’t be confused with Steven Bradbury (pictured, right), the Australian speed skating hero.)

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).