Legal Commentary

Suggestions for Obama's Transition Team

By Jeralyn

While I whole-heartedly supported Barack Obama for President from the time he became the Democratic nominee, I disagreed with his position on crime issues several times during the campaign. Last night, in his victory speech, he said:

There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. ...
I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.

As President, Obama will be appointing an Attorney General, 93 U.S. Attorneys, a few Supreme Court justices and many federal judges. He will champion or oppose legislation on crime issues and penalties. [More..]

ABC News reports President-Elect Barack Obama has named AZ Gov. and former federal prosecutor Janet Napolitano, former Denver Mayor and Clinton Transportation and Energy Secretary Federico Pena and former Clinton Commerce Secretary William Daley to his transition team.

Here is my first request -- that he add a federal criminal defense lawyer to his transition team.

My suggestions: TalkLeft's TChris, aka T. Christopher Kelly, who argued the landmark sentencing case Booker v. United States in the Supreme Court, and in 5 years of writing for TalkLeft, has never written a post I disagreed with, who is very level-headed and was an Obama supporter from the beginning -- or TalkLeft Alumni Last Night in Little Rock, aka John Wesley Hall, the current President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL,) who also has argued cases in the Supreme Court and is the author of two leading casebooks, one on search and seizure and the other on legal ethics.

A law professor won't do. A prosecutor won't do. Obama should name someone who fights every day in the trenches of our federal courtrooms for equal justice and fairness for the accused.

Obama's appointees, from the Attorney General to federal prosecutors and judges, will be responsible for decisions that deprive tens of thousands of people of liberty during his first presidential term. They deserve a strong advocate, a Champion of Liberty, on his transition team.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).