rssJustice Blogging
Monday, February 02, 2009 at 3:47 pm
- 23 Comments
President Obama’s twelve nominations to the Justice Department have plenty in common. Almost all of the appointees are alums of either President Clinton’s Justice Department, Harvard Law School or both. Among them, three share a particularly interesting hobby that could signal a change in the agency — they blog.
The three appointees will serve in the Office of Legal Counsel, the under-heralded but far-reaching office tasked with giving legal advice to the president and drafting opinions for the attorney general. This division has been criticized for entwining politics and the law under the Bush administration, particularly by Jay Bybee, the former assistant attorney general and John Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general. During his tenure as head of the OLC, Bybee issued a then-confidential memo, written chiefly by Yoo, authorizing the used of enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees. The controversial opinion, commonly called the Bybee memo, was shredded by legal scholars for its weak factual and legal foundation. It came to symbolize the political agenda and secrecy that had consumed the Office of Legal Counsel.
Illustration by: Matt Mahurin
But it looks like all that could change.
Dawn Johnsen, expected to head the Office of Legal Counsel; David Barron, principle deputy assistant attorney general and Marty Lederman, deputy assistant attorney general all blogged at one point for the legal website, Balkinization and Slate’s now-defunct legal blog, Convictions after leaving their previous stints in Clinton’s Justice Department. This group is more than just a reunion of Bloggingheads — their online legal musings signal a significant step forward for transparency and openness in the new Justice Department. What is more different from a secret torture memo than an open-thread blog post?
All three didn’t just write posts railing against Bush, they attacked the broader legal issue — the expansion of executive power. All three have written about the necessity of an independent Office of Legal Counsel, which means Johnsen, Lederman and Barron aren’t expected to be Obama’s political yes-men (or women). If their musings over the last eight years are any indication, they have firm convictions about the rule of law and the Justice Department’s role in following it — a marked change for the agency.
Dawn Johnsen
Appointment: Head of Office of Legal Counsel
In April, the former acting assistant attorney general, wrote a vitriolic piece on Convictions chiding Yoo and the Bush administration. In that post, Johnsen scathingly called Yoo’s memo “irresponsibly and dangerously false in a way that impugns OLC’s integrity.”
In many of her blog posts, Johnsen fiercely criticized the Bush administration, going so far as to call it “lawless.”
In a testament to her belief in transparency and the law Johnsen wrote:
The question how we restore our nation’s honor takes on new urgency and promise as we approach the end of this administration. We must resist Bush administration efforts to hide evidence of its wrongdoing through demands for retroactive immunity, assertions of state privilege, and implausible claims that openness will empower terrorists. . . Our constitutional democracy cannot survive with a government shrouded in secrecy, nor can our nation’s honor be restored without full disclosure.
If confirmed, Johnsen would be positioned to put her words into action.
David Barron
Appointment: Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Barron, who served as an attorney adviser at the Office of Legal Counsel in the 1990s, wrote posts at Convictions that revolved around legal arguments against Bush’s growing claims of executive power. The Harvard law professor also wrote forcefully about his support of the Boumediene decision, the case which granted Guantanamo detainees habeas corpus.
Together, Barron and Lederman formalized many of the musings that came from their blogging. For legal scholars and posterity, the two wrote a two-part article in the Harvard Law Review critiquing the role of executive power in waging war without legislative approval.
Marty Lederman
Appointment: Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Lederman, an 18-year veteran of the Office of Legal Counsel, is perhaps the most prolific of the Obama Justice Department bloggers, and the most vehemently anti-Bush. He regularly files posts for SCOTUSblog and Balkanization on issues of executive power, detention, interrogation and torture. He also doggedly followed the U.S. attorney firing scandal. Lederman wrote extensively on the Yoo memo for Balkanization.
Lederman has a few thoughts about the job Yoo, his predecessor, did as deputy assistant attorney general. In various posts, Lederman derides Yoo’s memo and goes so far as to say that “[Yoo's] legal advice, then, was a fairly direct cause — certainly a necessary cause — of the abuse in Iraq in 2002 and 2003.”
Taking Yoo’s job will give Lederman a chance to move beyond criticizing Yoo’s performance, but show how it should be done.
23 Comments
Pingback posted February 2, 2009 @ 10:46 pm
[...] three share a particularly interesting hobby that could signal a change in the agency — they blog.The Washington Independent » Justice Blogging This was written by admin. Posted on Monday, February 2, 2009, at 7:46 pm. Filed under Politics. [...]
Comment posted February 3, 2009 @ 3:06 pm
For once, nobody should complain about the typo “principle” for “principal.”
Comment posted February 5, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
A heap of doing over a cow dab. It all proves that we have a vested interest in the self. I wonder if the men and women who hold the future in their hands know what they do. Is Bush ever reflective, I doubt. Yet he has cause so much trouble for the future generation. He believes in god and prays to god just like 90% of Americans and 98% of the rest of the world pray to their gods. And the gods have yet to respond. Perhaps gods do not care. I suggest because they do not care and the promise of all religions that there is a better heaven that we forget about global warming, greed and corruption and enjoy this life as best we can. From the book “Americans the Stupid”.
Comment posted February 9, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
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Comment posted February 10, 2009 @ 10:24 am
Fascinating reading which i feel is mainly due to the liveley writing. Good. Informative and zesty.
Comment posted February 18, 2009 @ 11:34 am
With courageous folks like this there is still hope for the US.
If we as a nation cannot put our principles in to actions, you know, the ones that made us great, the ones our founding fathers wrote down even in the face of losing their lives, then we will become a nation of talkers only, a nation that went from a courageous people to a paper tiger.
I think in today's world its easy to do things that appear to keep us safe. Its easy to make more restrictions and compromise our freedoms in the name of security and of keeping us from terrorist disasters.
However, to me the mark of a present day leader is one that can find a way to do what is needed without compromising our principles, without subverting the Constitution, and do it in a way that shows the whole world that America and Americans have the courage of their convictions.
I want a leader that truly creates honesty and transparency in government. One that stops rendition, domestic spying and ignoring the Constitution. I want a leader that the world admires for his/her courage and honesty. One that preserves America and the American way of life. It is too easy to say that times have changed and so must we. It is too easy to say good sounding meaningless things like extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
The three folks above sound like leaders that I would be proud to support. I admire you all. I am proud that you are Americans. I applaud your work, your convictions and your actions.
Comment posted February 18, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
With courageous folks like this there is still hope for the US.
If we as a nation cannot put our principles in to actions, you know, the ones that made us great, the ones our founding fathers wrote down even in the face of losing their lives, then we will become a nation of talkers only, a nation that went from a courageous people to a paper tiger.
I think in today's world its easy to do things that appear to keep us safe. Its easy to make more restrictions and compromise our freedoms in the name of security and of keeping us from terrorist disasters.
However, to me the mark of a present day leader is one that can find a way to do what is needed without compromising our principles, without subverting the Constitution, and do it in a way that shows the whole world that America and Americans have the courage of their convictions.
I want a leader that truly creates honesty and transparency in government. One that stops rendition, domestic spying and ignoring the Constitution. I want a leader that the world admires for his/her courage and honesty. One that preserves America and the American way of life. It is too easy to say that times have changed and so must we. It is too easy to say good sounding meaningless things like extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
The three folks above sound like leaders that I would be proud to support. I admire you all. I am proud that you are Americans. I applaud your work, your convictions and your actions.
Pingback posted March 9, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
[...] – article [...]
Comment posted August 20, 2010 @ 9:07 am
With courageous folks like this there is still hope for the US.
Comment posted August 20, 2010 @ 4:55 pm
Fascinating reading which i feel is mainly due to the liveley writing. Good. Informative and zesty.
Comment posted September 17, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
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Comment posted November 13, 2010 @ 3:48 am
With courageous folks like this there is still hope for the US.
Comment posted November 29, 2010 @ 5:20 am
If we as a nation cannot put our principles in to actions, you know, the ones that made us great, the ones our founding fathers wrote down even in the face of losing their lives, then we will become a nation of talkers only, a nation that went from a courageous people to a paper tiger.
Comment posted November 29, 2010 @ 5:20 am
If we as a nation cannot put our principles in to actions, you know, the ones that made us great, the ones our founding fathers wrote down even in the face of losing their lives, then we will become a nation of talkers only, a nation that went from a courageous people to a paper tiger.
Comment posted March 24, 2011 @ 12:35 pm
legal arguments against Bush’s growing claims of executive power. The Harvard law professor also wrote forcefully about his support of the Boumediene decision, the case which granted Guantanamo detainees habeas corpus.
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