The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure. The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch. It was from that office that John Yoo, Jay Bybee and others did so much damage, issuing now-infamous memoranda that established the regime of lawlessness that has dominated our political institutions over the last eight years. Other than Attorney General-designate Eric Holder and Obama himself, there is probably no official who will have a more significant role in determining the extent to which the Obama administration really does reverse the lawlessness and legal radicalism of the Bush years.
Today, as The Boston Globe just reported, Barack Obama announced several new appointments to key DOJ posts, including Dawn Johnsen to head the OLC. Johnsen is a Professor of Law at Indiana University, a former OLC official in the Clinton administration (as well as a former ACLU counsel), and a graduate of Yale Law School. She's become a true expert on executive power and, specifically, the role and obligation of the OLC in restricting presidential decisions to their lawful scope.
« So, so awesome | Main | On Israeli and American interest » A really good sign06 Jan 2009 02:21 pm
So Obama really is serious about torture? Good to see. Also, dig this piece by Greenwald on Obama appointee Dawn Johnsen, the anti-John Yoo:
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That IS refreshing. Hopefully we'll be able to put all this behind us and let the professionals in the CIA resume their sole responsibility for torture. You know...intelligence professionals like Leon Panetta.
Oh wait...
Seriously, it is refreshing and hopefully we, as a nation, will be able to settle a few things about this issue. Honestly, though, I don't for the life of me know why Panetta gets the CIA nod. As much as I dislike der Schlickmeister and Frau Schlickmeister, I REALLY have a problem with one of their lapdogs running the CIA. It smells like a backroom deal going back to her acquiescence.
Interesting backstory on Leon Panetta (he was a Republican!) that makes me like the guy a lot:
http://www.beautifulhorizons.net/weblog/2009/01/leon-panetta.html
I think it is supremely ironic that the Johnsen and Panetta announcements/leaks came the same day as the unbelievably cynical Op-Ed piece by Yoo and Bolton appeared in the Times.
While this comment doesn't tie in directly with the post, I wanted to thank Mr. Coates for a really great response on NPR this morning to the Roland Burris situation. Open, honest, practical, realistic--so refreshing.
Picking Panetta pissed off Dianne Feinstein, one of the most useless Dems ever elected from California, which makes him one of the best possible choices for the gig in my book. Seriously though, the second Feinstein opened her mouth about the pick, my first response was "where were you on the Iraq War again? Thought so--shut up." On anything to do with the Iraq war, intelligence gathering, and torture, anyone who voted with Bush needs to get slapped down hard and told to jam it, because they got it wrong on the biggest issue of the last decade, and Obama didn't, and until he fucks up, he gets the benefit of the doubt. They don't.
Did you all see that Feinstein is now saying that Burris should be seated? Am I the only one that thinks she's doing it out of spite over the Panetta thing?
Dan, that was certainly my first reaction. Then I thought, I'm going to research Feinstein a little to see if that's characteristic of her. And then I realized, Oh crap, why do I care? I have actual work to do! But yes, that was my first thought.
Panetta has no intelligence experience. Though, folks say that's why he was chosen. He doesn't believe in torture...I think it's sort of pathetic that I'm willing to go ok to someone with no intelligence experience, because it's hard to find someone whose hands are tainted with torture.
how this country has fallen.
sorry, it's hard to find someone whose hands ARE NOT tainted with torture.
Yeah, trevor. I should be finishing with dinner prep. And yet, here I am.
Bush Sr. had no intelligence experience (that we know of) and he was CIA director.
Nice to see some moral clarity.
I am happy about this. Both as an Obama supporter, and a Hoosiers fan.
I've gotten kind of burned out on political coverage, but Gleen Greenwald is ON FIRE. The guy is writing stuff that you just can't afford to miss lately. "Orwell, blinding tribalism, selective Terrorism, and Israel/Gaza" was epic.
Gleen Greenwald is ON FIRE
I like Greenwald, think he's a good writer, and he's constantly making excellent points, but he's almost unreadable for me as a blogger. Dude needs to take some stick-to-the-point lessons. Writing styles are subjective, but to me every single Greenwald post seems at least 50-100% wordier than it should be.
That "Orwell..." post is a good example. Excellent piece except the very important, effective part is stuck carrying an extra 1,000 words or so when Greenwald could have just said he's not talking about every cheerleader for Israel, but when you're saying crazy shit like Instapundit is here your position is no more moral than a Hamas zealot's.