Legal News

David Kris Confirmed as Assistant AG in 97-0 Vote

By Jennifer Forsyth

It’s never wise to show up your new boss with your first act.

So maybe David Kris will have to smooth things over with Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. after his Senate confirmation sailed through today with nary a nay, while 21 Senators gave the thumbs down to Holder. (”Really, boss, any of us would have flubbed the Marc Rich pardon.”)

Kris, (Haverford, Harvard Law) deputy general counsel at at Time Warner and an adjunct law professor at Georgetown, will be assistant attorney general for the national security division. He was a no-brainer for the nomination after having served as an associate deputy attorney general from 2000 to 2003 dealing with national security issues. (Click here for his official bio.) Kris, who served in both the Clinton and second Bush administrations, previously had criticized the legal justifications behind Bush’s warrantless wiretapping, the AP reported.

The selection of Kris certainly impressed Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy, who gushed in January: “If someone asked me who I thought should head the DOJ’s National Security Division, I would probably have named David Kris. Bravo to President-Elect Obama for such an inspired pick.”

Also joining up with Obama’s team is Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh, a Clinton administration alum. Koh will serve as legal adviser to the State Department. (Here’s the Hartford Courant story.)

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 25, 2009 (boomark / email).