Legal News

SJC Approves Dawn Johnsen, But is This as Far As She?ll Get?

By Ashby Jones

Will Dawn Johnsen ultimately inherit the position to which she’s been nominated?

It’s unclear, but at this point, nearly a year after President Obama nominated the IU-Bloomington law professor to one of the highest ranking positions in the Justice Department, it doesn’t look good.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to approve Johnsen, 12-7, though the vote was split on party lines. The committee endorsed Johnsen 12-7 for assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel, the office at the center of interrogation policy during the Bush administration. Click here for the story, from the BLT Blog.

According to the BLT Blog, Republicans are likely to block her nomination on the Senate floor, as they did last year, because of her views on national security and abortion.

Alas, it’s more business as usual in our nation’s halls of power, with Dems and Republicans at complete loggerheads over a presidential nomination — with no real solution in sight. To blame only the GOP here woudn’t be fair: the Democrats blocked Bush nominee Steven Bradbury for this same position for four years. The Republicans have their reasons for wanting to block Johnsen, as the Democrats did in wanting to block Bradbury. Still, as a Beltway outsider, it’s frustrating to once again watch the wheels of government grind to something approaching a standstill.

According to the BLT blog, “in an hour-long debate today, senators painted contrasting portraits of Johnsen as either a radical liberal or a respected academic.”

Frankly, at this rate, it’s hard to see how we’re going to have someone in that seat anytime soon.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 04, 2010 (boomark / email).