Legal Commentary

Obama Names 4 DOJ Division Chiefs

By Jeralyn

President Barack Obama has named four chiefs of the Justice Department.

• David Kris is assistant AG for national security.
• Tony West is assistant AG for the Justice Department’s civil division.
• Lanny Breuer is assistant AG for Justice’s criminal division.
• Christine Varney is assistant AG for the antitrust division.

It's the criminal division, responsible for prosecuting crimes in our federal courts, that I'm interested in.

Breuer is a partner at the Washington law firm Covington and Burling, where attorney general-nominee Eric Holder also served as partner. He was special counsel to President Clinton and defended Clinton during his impeachment. New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens also hired Breuer last year to represent him during Congress’ investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional baseball.

White Collar Crime Blog has this to say about Breuer: [More...]

It is good to see someone with enormous experience willing to serve the country in this important position. His expertise in the corporate and political world make him a good match in the fight against white collar crime.

But where will he be on the War Against Drugs? It hardly sounds like that has been high on his radar list. Since he comes from the same firm as Holder, and Holder is no friend in that area, I'm not sure what to think about the pick. As a defense lawyer, he's represented big shots. And early in his career, he was a state prosector.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 25, 2009 (boomark / email).