Legal Commentary

Obama Fills Four More Top Spots at DOJ

By Jeralyn

President-Elect Barack Obama today named four people to fill top spots in the Justice Department, which presumably will be headed by his nominee Eric Holder. They are:

• David Ogden for Deputy AG, the #2 spot. "Mr. Ogden, also a senior official in the Clinton Justice Department, has led the transition at the Justice Department since Mr. Obama’s election and has long been rumored as the front-runner for the #2 post."

• Dawn Johnsen to lead the Office of Legal Counsel..."A professor at Indiana University law school, she served on an acting basis as head of the office of legal counsel in 1997 and 1998 in the Clinton administration."

More...

• Elena Kagan, currently Harvard Law School Dean, will be Solicitor General. "She too served as a legal advisor in the Clinton administration as an associate counsel in the White House from 1995-96.."

• Tom Perrelli will be Associate Attorney General. "He was counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno during the Clinton administration. Like Mr. Ogden, he has worked on the Obama transition for the Justice Department over the last two months."

So all five top spots at Justice will be former Clinton DOJ officials. Hopefully they will bring a welcome change from the policies of the Bush Justice Department. Time will tell.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 05, 2009 (boomark / email).