Constitutional Law

Newspaper Praises Obama's Choices To Lead DOJ Office

President Obama’s appointments to head key positions in the Department of Justice are lauded by The Washington Post as signaling “a return to the best traditions of the Justice Department – a focus on the department’s primary mission of protecting the country while maintaining an allegiance to the rule of law.” The Post editorial praises Obama’s choice to lead the Office of Legal Counsel Dawn E. Johnsen, and two of her deputies, Martin S. Lederman and David Barron.

The editorial notes that during the Bush administration, the OLC “gained notoriety for authorizing memos that sought to legally justify the use of extreme interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects.” Johnsen, a former member of the ACS Board of Directors member, has been, as the newspaper noted, a frequent “thoughtful” critic of the OLC’s legal advice on the Bush administration’s policy on detention and interrogation of military prisoners and on domestic wiretapping. ACS recently distributed an article by Johnsen on reforming the OLC, which is available here. Johnsen also detailed her concerns about the role that OLC played during the Bush administration at this ACS event. All three appointees, the newspaper maintains, “are likely to reject the extreme secrecy and legal distortions of the office under President Bush ….”

Barron and Lederman are also regular participants at ACS events. Barron, a Harvard law professor, recently participated in a panel discussion co-hosted by ACS regarding a Cato Institute book claiming to detail some of the most harmful Supreme Court cases. Video of that event is available here. Barron is also a member of the Board Advisors of the Harvard Law & Policy Review, the official journal of ACS.

Lederman, a Georgetown University Law Center professor, recently moderated an ACS Capitol Hill briefing on national security, civil liberties and military tribunals. Video of that ACS event is available here.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).