Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The DOD's New General Counsel (and his two guiding principles)

And a welcome sight he is:


Within hours of being sworn in as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense on Feb. 10, Jeh C. Johnson circulated a rare, if not unprecedented, e-mail to all 10,000 civilian and military lawyers working for the agency. "I wanted to send a message, and thought it would be significant if I sent it on my first day in office," said Mr. Johnson, 51, who, left a lucrative partner position at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to take the third public service job of his 27-year career. A witness to the 9/11 terror attacks, Mr. Johnson said he left his law practice because he was concerned about the safety of the country and his own family. But he said that an uncle's experience with racial prejudice during World War II also has taught him that a concern for safety must be leavened with a respect for the law.

As general counsel, Mr. Johnson supervises an office of 100 attorneys, which functions as the principal legal adviser to Defense Secretary Robert M.

Gates. In the e-mail<http://www.nylj.com/nylawyer/adgifs/decisions/030309johnsonemail.pdf>bearing

his general introductory remarks to his new colleagues he vowed that he would be guided by two basic principles. First, he said that "our advice concerning the rule of law must remain consistent throughout changing and challenging times. Adherence to the rule of law permits us to occupy the moral high ground, and display the very best of American values." In that regard, he quoted Justice Sandra O'Connor's opinion in *Hamdi v.

Rumsfeld*<http://supreme.justia.com/us/542/507/case.html>,

542 U.S. 507 (2004), which reversed the denial of a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant" under procedures Mr. Johnson's predecessor as general counsel helped develop. In *Hamdi*, Justice O'Connor wrote: "It is during our most challenging and uncertain moments that our nation's commitment to due process is most severely tested; and it is in those times that we must preserve commitment at home to the principles for which we fight abroad."

Second, Johnson pledged to foster "a collegial and collaborative working relationship between civilian and military lawyers," which would go "a long way toward timely, effective and quality legal services and legal advice."


Imagine (if you can) how many lives could have been saved over these past eight years if someone with principles like these had been in the position that Johnson is in now....

Best of luck to you Jeh.

FIRE JOHN YOO ... NEW UPDATE

I feel quite certain that Berkeley has not given him his walking papers... but read Scott Horton's latest blog and you can wonder yourself.
As I see it, going after his law license is our first job...then we go for the criminal indictment.
Thanks to the Fire John Yoo group for continuing this Battle and
Click on the title to read Scott's latest.

Unraveling the mystery surrounding documents filed with the Court Security Office (CSO)

Last weekend it hit me that none of the documents that I have filed with the CSO have been cleared for public filing since November 2008 (except for my Supreme Court Cert petition). With new players at the DOJ and many new Habeas counsel entering the cases (to help with the discovery and hearings) most probably do not know how unusual this is and/or have not given this much thought. I however believe that it is detrimental to have this historic litigation unfolding with a big piece of the paper trail missing from the public record.

(CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST...)