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Obama nominates Yale law dean to be State Department legal adviser

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh to be legal adviser to the Department of State (DOS). Koh was touted by Obama as an authority on public and private international law, national security law, and human rights. He previously served as assistant secretary of state for human rights and labor under the Clinton administration before becoming Dean at Yale in 2004. If confirmed, Koh would replace current legal adviser John Bellinger III, nominated by the Bush administration, and would provide counsel on international law to the secretary of state and US embassies around the world. Bellinger defended US legal policy in the "war on terror" in a variety of international legal and diplomatic venues and was one of the principal drafters of the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act that created the Director of National Intelligence.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).