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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
A shameful smear
Conservative group targets defense attorneys for doing their jobs well
Monday, March 15, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
A group headed by former Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, Liz, has been attacking the Justice Department. In an Internet ad that has gained wide notice, Keep America Safe questions the loyalty of nine lawyers working for the Obama administration because they represented detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
The ad is part of the group’s attempt to paint the administration and Attorney General Eric Holder as being soft on terrorism. Some members of Congress have been pursuing a similar tack. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa has pressed Holder to turn over the names of anyone in the Justice Department who represented detainees, questioning the department’s judgment in hiring them.
The ad shows a picture of Osama bin Laden while questioning the lawyers’ values and prominently uses a newspaper headline reading “DOJ: Department of Jihad?” to try to make the link between the lawyers and terrorism. Talk about a malicious smear.
Lawyers arguing for clients don’t necessarily agree with them. They are merely doing their jobs as advocates of the accused, which is a key element of the American justice system.
Many conservatives understand that. In an open letter released last week, a group of 19 conservative attorneys and leaders denounced the Keep America Safe ad. The group included Matthew Waxman and Charles “Cully” Stimson, who both served in the Bush Defense Department overseeing detainee affairs. Former Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal calling the logic behind the attacks “shoddy and dangerous.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who serves as a military attorney, blasted the ad, calling it “shameful.”
Indeed. The ad’s critics said such attacks could undermine both the military and civilian justice systems if attorneys shy away from representing the accused. Mukasey told National Public Radio that the ad could hurt the department’s efforts to hire good attorneys who want to avoid scrutiny. “And I think that will carve out a large number of intelligent, capable people, and all you’ll get is people who’ve devoted their careers to avoiding risk, and we don’t want that,” he said.
In a letter to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich noted that at least 34 of the nation’s 50 largest law firms have either represented detainees or filed friend-of-the-court briefs on detainees’ behalf. Should the government disqualify them as unpatriotic or label them as conspirators to the terrorists?
Of course not. The ability to make those arguments — vigorously — is not just the hallmark of a good attorney but of the American legal system.
Considering that conservative groups love to quote the Founding Fathers, we would think Keep America Safe would be proud that there are attorneys willing to serve in unpopular cases.
Before becoming one of the nation’s Founding Fathers and the second president of the United States, John Adams was an attorney who represented British soldiers accused of crimes during the Boston Massacre in 1770. He called his defense of the soldiers “one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”
Does that make Adams a terrorist in Liz Cheney’s eyes, too?
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Cheney and her group, Keep America Safe, are asking an important question. Whose values does the Obama Justice Department represent?
Department Of Justice lawyers represent the United States, and nine lawyers who have chosen to represent enemy combatants should be questioned due to past patterns and practices by the attorney general that is highly disturbing.
There is nothing sinister in challenging the attorney general to explain his choices...
Jeez Lar, ya freakin' insomniac! Good Morning!
As to Liz & Dick;
The rotten apple doesn't fall to far from the rotten tree!!!
So why did Eric Holdern hide the identiy of these lawyers who are now working on our Terrorist policies?
What is there to hid.
Why did Liz have to shame the Obama adminstration to bring this public information?
It's amazing that McCarthyism is still out there and those who believe in it think their viewpoints are legitimate and intelligent.
Liz Cheney, like her dad, just want to go around the world and conquer nation by nation. This is just such insepid crap. They have no idea what it means to be American - they think we got to be the number one nation in the world by having an isolationist stance and that paranoia is a superlative trait. That we rule by fear instead of by law.
The country has eleven million illegal immigrants - where's their anger at their own government for attorneys representing them? Couldn't they be considered terrorists since they affect our health care and educational systems?
This is such political crapola to fight a political party. The people that died on 9/11 and other attacks against U.S. treasure didn't die for people like this to speak for them. If anything let their deaths stand for what's right about the American justice system.
The disputatious Cheneys are bound and determined to smear any Democrats that they can. The funny thing about it is when Dick Cheney was Veep he never gave anybody the time of day. He was and is the scurrilous pr*ck that swore there were WMD in Iraq. He wanted a war in Iraq so that Halliburton, a company that made him a VP when he was briefly out of government during the Clinton years could make billions of dollars in No-Bid contracts. I would personally like to pull the lips off that snarling little toad.
Easy solution: Refuse to defend jihadists!
If it were a Republican president and he was trying to appoint an attorney to the Justice Department who had represented Dick Cheney, the Democrats would be screaming bloody murder.
The American people have a right to know the names of these lawyers and we have a right know why Eric Holder is being so secretive in withholding their names. Does the name Lynne Stewart ring a bell, she is a lawyer who defends these Jihadists who is now serving time in prison for not defending, but actively aiding and abetting. We have a right to know if Lynne Stewart types are now working for the government on behalf of terror suspects. Unbelievable that a newspaper would take a stance for hiding things from the American public, but then again it's a Democrat in office and not a Republican so the rules of the game have changed (again).
i have long thought ann coulter was the ugliest person on the planet...
but...
i have to tell you...
i think i may have underestimated just how ugly liz cheney is...
well...
seems fitting...
as her dad...
cheney the evil doer was hands down the greatest misjudgment of a person's character i have ever made...
make no mistake boys and girls...
there will be a special place in hell reserved for cheney the evil doer...
and seems to me...
ole lizzey wants to join her evil father...
Hiring Eric Holder is shameful.
He approved that purchased pardon.
I guess Obama loves crooks.
That makes since for Obama learned his trade in one of the most corrupt places in the USA.....South Chicago.
Ann Coulter is much more beautiful than Obama's wife is whatever her name is.
Some things are beginning to be extremely apparent around here. Here are some of todays easily seen truths:
Uncle Larry, Future, Jib101, RHG, & Sgt Rock have been exposed as McCarthyite paid operatives of the republican party.
You want these lawyers home addresses too? Their children's names so you can go to their kids school and bomb their kids classrooms? You want to have your McCarthy lovin anti-Bible rabble rouser Glenn Beck to lead the law firms these 7 may have worked for into disrepute? Ruin a few more lives? You want to make it so that no lawyer will ever represent the seemingly guilty? You want to make it so after a lawyer defends a person guilty of a heinous crime their lives are ruined?
You people are rabid with ideologically driven hatred spewed by your multi millionaire republican spokespeople like Beck, Coulter, Limbaugh, McConnell, Boehner, etc. Hatred and more hatred. It is what you side with, what you stand for and what your ideas are about.
You sicken the stomach of people who believe in truth, honesty, integrity, and are true believers in God.
If you are not being paid, even the republicans look at you as clowns for your ridiculous recitation of republican talking points. You look as stupid to them as they know Sarah Palin is. They are getting you for free. Anti American zealotry at no cost to the masters. Slave mentality.
The only parallel in current history are the plantation owners in South Africa who continued that elitist mentality of my way or the highway found themselves on the outside looking in. This is your destiny, or we will become a hybrid of North Korea and the old USSR. You folks are so myopic it is getting dangerous.
The majority of American people believe we are at war with violent Islamic Jihadists and that the full spectrum of state power needs to used against our enemies.
We do NOT believe that the conflict is some sort of law enforcement challenge requiring lawyers & a few more cops on the streets.
By selecting lawyers who have profited (monetarily and/or professionally) by their support for the law enforcement approach, the Dems have demonstrated that despite their words they do not accept the position that we are at war. They instead want to talk to our enemy, to negotiate, to compromise -- all while the jihadists continue their fight against us.
Let them continue their careers in private practice. They chose their path, they will certainly continue to profit by it, and we don't need them. Their are plenty of other perfectly qualified people without the baggage these guys have (unless it's "the baggage" that Obama & Holder were looking for!)
Essentially, these lawyers were placed into a no-win situation.
Refuse to defend them, or fail to zealously represent their client as dictated by the rules of professional conduct, and they would be disbarred and their careers forever ruined.
Defend them, and follow the rules of conduct, and then watch as they are destroyed publicly for doing their job.
What should they have done?
Douglas:
And, by not defending them properly will cost us lengthy retrials, gives the (if guilty) terrorists another crack at the bat too.
They should only listen to Beck, Limbaugh, Uncle Larry, Rocky and the like. Any deviation from this will get Fox News to shove a microphone and camera in your face as you walk out in your bathrobe to get the morning paper...
...then you go to church and get murdered.
Read today article in the Wall Street Journal. Some of these attorneys are doing more than just represent those peaceful Muslims. They performed services along the line of what radical attorney Lynn Stewart did. These are not American attorneys upholding the law. They are anarchists wanting to destroy America by violating and bastardizing the laws. Instead of just announcing their names, they should be paraded through the streets and mocked as terrorists themselves, then stripped of their citizenship, sent to live in the middle east
Hey LV_Tom:
Can we waterboard em first?
Please?
LV_Tom:
That's not an article. That's an editorial. As in an opinion piece, not a fact piece.
Shamelessly mischaracterizing it as a fact piece destroys your credibility in citing it.
jlb101 -
Now you want to compare subjective opinions between the beauty of Ann O'Rexic Coulter to the First Lady? (Her name is MICHELLE, by the way.) This is the base mentality of what's going on here.
Your editorial states at its conclusion:
"Before becoming one of the nation's Founding Fathers and the second president of the United States, John Adams was an attorney who represented British soldiers accused of crimes during the Boston Massacre in 1770. He called his defense of the soldiers "one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country."
Does that make Adams a terrorist . . . "
_______________________________
It makes Adams much less the principled "revolutionary" your editorial hopes to paint him.
He was being a pro-government conformist.
Using history can be inconvenient, you see. At the time of his representation the British troops in Boston were "the police" - or the government in power. Old John wasn't "speaking truth to power" - he was supporting the status quo. Sorta like representing Metro today - in a civilian shooting.
True
True:
Two of the lawyers being smeared defended Jose Padilla and John Walker Lindh, both American citizens at the time they were detained.
Demographincs show the Islamic threat is looming for America
the only smear here is of the Cheney's efforts to root out corruption and islamic sentiment in the justice Department.
Useful idiots and/or fellow travelers all
Is it possible Eric Holder withheld their names because they might come to harm?
Reading some of these posts and hearing what others have said makes me think he did the right thing.
Every person has a right to have an attorney defend them. One of the highest principles of our justice system.
Liz Cheney and her ilk are trying to undermine our Constitution by demeaning those defense attorneys.
The only leg the right can stand on is the constant fearmongering. They have no solutions, just spread as much fear as possible.
At least John Adams wasn't ashamed to admitt the part he played in the Boston Massacre case... As his role in the history of America points out!
"Demographincs show the Islamic threat is looming for America"
If you honestly believe this, then you also smear MILLIONS of Muslim people (including American citizens) who do not share the ideology of the extremists and believe they are tarnishing the faith.
It would be like using Fred Phelps as the common representation of Christianity.
Law-abiding Muslims also died on 9/11. The extremists see no distinction between those of the faith who do not take up arms and infidels.
::::::::::::::::::::::
Fellow Unread and Illiterate Companions ! ( what are you drinking this morning? )
::::::::::::::::::::::
Liz and LiarDIck have no knowledge of the Constitution.
Was there ever a worse AG then Gonzales? AWOLBush used him to okay torture and all the crimes he committed as he was hidding in the White House scared to hold press conferences.
A combatant has a legal right to representation either in a civ. court or a mil. tribe.
Gitmo is illegal.
Torture is illegal and our nation signed a treaty in '94 to that extent.
Spain issued warrants and arrested Pinochet. Hope they do that on BushTheTesasCriminal and Dick.
Fundamentally, Liz is an idiot. What is she afraid of and all the jokers who find her point of view acceptable.
Why is the country afraid of letting these nut cases have lawyers?
Did OJ have a lawyer. He slices people up?
Did Gasey the boy serial killer have a lawyer?
What about Dalhmer?
Oh, I know they were US citizens. So what?
Those who agree with CrazyLiz are the ones who think that certain rights are okay for them but not others. That's their version of freedom. I would enjoy hearing them debate Jefferson or Washington .... perhaps Ben Franklin or John Adams. They would last all of two seconds and that would be the time it would take for them to enter the room.
In hearing the voices of these forefathers sometimes as I sleep, I recall their words of how outrageous today's conservatives and Republicans are to them .... to them they are traitors who tear up and trash the constitution. Jefferson was simply beside himself a week ago relating some stupid remarks from TraitorLieberman and approval of torture by McCain and SenHonEnginee - he was actually cussing them out pretty good.
Let's all consider ourselves lucky CrazyLiz and the DraftDoger dad are not in a responsible office or position and won't ever be.
Merci.
Thanks To - BoysWindshieldWiperScrpersOfUpperFingerLakesMontana and the Ladies Wonder Bread Dough Kneeders Association Meeting Holders !
When is that craven coward Dick (and he really is a Dick, right?) Cheney going to take his ugly wife (even uglier than Ann Coulter, whose face looks like it caught on fire and somebody tried to put it out with a fork) and his loudmouth daughter Liz, (not the gay daughter, she is the only one in the family with any integrity) back to the doublewide in Wyoming and shoot some more friends. He didn't have the guts to fight for his country in Vietnam (five deferments) and he later stated that he had "more important things to do". The coward hid in an "undisclosed location" during the 9/11 attacks while Bushie was out of town, and he refuses to admit that the Iraq debacle that he was in great part responsible for starting was anything except a glowing success. Whatta guy!!!
For him or his daughter to accuse someone of being disloyal to the US because they provided legal services to accused al-Quaida prisoners as is required by our own Constitution reeks of McCarthyism at it's worst. To deny these people legal counsel would be illegal, whether you like it or not. He and she have more gall than good sense, and should be roundly condemned for their statements. Even most of the Republican power structure wish they would just go away and quit embarrassing the Party with their ignorant statements.
I'm sure Lynn's pa, DICK, would just have the lawyers disbarred.
Those Right Wing-Nuts, if things do not go their way, or someone gets in their way, they "deal" with them. Like when DICK and Karl had the DOJ lawyers fired. STILL haven't heard the end of that debacle.
Jeez, even Charles Manson got a lawyer.
What the hell has the Republican Party come too?
JLB, either you went blind before you "saw" Ann Coulter & Michelle Obama or this is just another case of jlb101 hating on a person of color. If you were "colorblind", you would never have made the comparison. If you factor in the "skin deep" part of beauty, you've got one extraordinarily ugly duckling versus a modern, intelligent First Lady of the kind you wouldn't mind your daughters emulating.
And one other note, Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy was/is one of Ann Coulter's greatest heroes. She has defended that wacko time and time again as a great American who outed all of those godless commies back in the fifties. Hell, he even said he suspected Ike was a fellow traveler. I think the only radio/TV person wackier than Annie is that yet-to-be institutionalized idiot Glenn Beck. Didn't you love it when that Massa idiot made Beck look like an even bigger idiot last week. Beck was pleading, pleading, with him to come up with some dirt on Obama, and Massa kept shoving it right up Beck's old bunghole. I loved it...........
What about goodman defending people from an organization that really didn't exist?
You don't defend our rights under the Constitution by denying those rights to a prisoner. You also don't preserve our freedoms by torturing prisoners. Those of you who are big fans of the torture porn on "24" need to try living in another culture, like maybe Albania. The rest of us are trying to preserve the rule of law, and you're getting in the way.
Putting a fire out with a fork is impractical.
JLB:
Attacks on the First Lady, which have NOTHING to do with any public or personal stance/acts by her, are just NOT cricket!
Spouses and children should not be targets of attack, by those who wish to discredit a public figure. (The exception to this, is when those spouses or ADULT children CHOOSE to 'go public'...such as Ms. Cheney has, above.)
I often said that if I was invited to the (Bush) White House, for one of those PR-motivated dinners to 'honour our troops'...I would have found a way to become ill (so I could refuse on those grounds). I respected the man's office, but not the man himself.
But, if LAURA Bush invited me to a luncheon with HER- I'd have gone in a hot minute, as I agreed with her (personal, not public) stance on literacy/reading. I respect her, in many ways, on a personal level. It would not have been in any way, proper to vent my spleen upon her- for the things her husband did.
John Adams had it right. Any action that defends our American values in the face of adverse conditions is to be applauded.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Geeze Louise
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Numbskillnuts and Haters
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Even Ames Aldridge and Robert Hansen had lawyers, Johnny Walker , too.
Arriving home early today, having a sizable vodka and tonic and a relaxing cigarette for a change, I seem to feel the hate.
American priciples were once something we the people could feel quite nicely about, but after 8 years of AWOLBushie and his henchmen that no longer is the case.
Sipping nicely, thank you, lime included here, I surmise that many of you would now revert to lynching, white sheets and fire on crosses were it not for some rather sevier retributions.
Ah, surfice it to say, that in a number of short months, several Sup. Court Justices will retire and the new ones will re-instate our principle democratic document known as the constitution.
Now, where's my taxi to get me to Silverton where there's some deals to be had?
Merci !
The Lady Kickers Of Massive Cow Piles Association a big 'shout out' for all that clean up that we needed after that woman from Alaska traveled all over the lower 48 !!
Michele Obama has made political speeches for her husband. Thus she is fair game. Regardless of what you think. When you stand in front of people and extol the virtues of ANY candidate you are between the fan and the other stuff. Kids are off limits, I don't care what color or sex or party affiliation. Kids all love their daddy and I wouldn't have it any other way. Leave the kids out but put the wives feet to the fire.
What's the matter with Michelle Obama's feet? I know a lot of people were jealous of her arms, but her feet?
Help me out someone...
Jeff said: The only parallel in current history are the plantation owners in South Africa who continued that elitist mentality of my way or the highway found themselves on the outside looking in. This is your destiny, or we will become a hybrid of North Korea and the old USSR. You folks are so myopic it is getting dangerous.
Actually that sounds like what the Democratic party is saying about the healthcare bill, "My way or the highway" "The debate is over" "That's why we have elections." Not my words, these are from your Democratic leaders. Just sayin' for now, but we'll show you more about what we mean in November.
Since when was a desire for a smaller, less powerful and intrusive government a communist plot?
I see in the news today that Justice Clarence Thomas's (of Long Dong Silver fame)wife has started her own Tea Party organization sponsored by Dick Armey, the right wing slug. Do you think there might be a whiff of judicial partisanship here? If Thomas had not been on the Supreme Court in 2000, Al Gore would probably been elected President because the right-wing Supremes gave the election to Bush after the Republican Florida Election Commissioner declared Gores victory in Florida null and void because of some "hanging chads". The case went to the Supremes and they did their Republican duty.
Had that not happened, we would all probably be driving electric cars, heating our houses with natural gas, etc, etc, etc. On the serious side, 5,000 of our young Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines would still be alive, Iraq would be an isolated pariah of a country surrounded by enemy states but powerless to do anything about it. Saddam Hussein, if he had not been assassinated by now would be a feeble old despot whose own people hate him and who the world ignores.
No mater what anyone who reads the Sun thinks, Dick Cheney is an adult compared to the children who were just elected. Joe Biden is the FOOL who just keeps on giving. Ya Dick Cheney made money, what about it? You jealous, envious or what. Harry Reid is a land speculator, made a ton of money because of insider trading and it is OK? He and his buddies didn't trade favors and information. Naw, not good old Harry. And now you attack his daughter Liz. It is expected.
"And now you attack his daughter Liz."
She wants to pontificate about law and justice and defend her daddy's arguments, then she's fair game.
She's an adult. If she can't stand the heat, maybe she shouldn't go around accusing people of things.
bbtbrain:
Like the South Africans, the republicans never really engaged. What the Dems have done is incorporate over 100 republican amendments to the bill in hopes that, because the other team stayed home every day there was a semblance of fairness.
The bill is hated by both sides, but at least everyone sort of gets in the water a bit. There is plenty of time to fix what doesn't work.
All we are saying...
...is give HCR a chance...
Calthompian:
"When you stand in front of people and extol the virtues of ANY candidate you are between the fan and the other stuff."
Sooo what you're saying is, I SHOULD have vented my spleen on Laura? (She made a few speeches, as well.)
"Kids all love their daddy and I wouldn't have it any other way. Leave the kids out but put the wives feet to the fire."
Because it's NOT okay for Wives to love their Hubby?????
Patti Davis/Ron Reagan Jr (adult children): NOT viable targets for Reps.
Hillary Clinton, (prior to her Senatorial election in 2001): A target.
Darlene Ensign (spouse): A target.
I'm sorry to disagree, but I feel you are judging FAR too harshly.
Apparently the water boarder torture was very calculated. People were forced to drink Ensure 24 hours before the torture so they would not choke on their own vomit. Gurneys designed for the correct angles, with a quick tip up feature. Doctors with saline solutions for heart attacks and so forth.
John Esign should be water boardered to determine what he knows about ethics violations.
Harshly?
Michele Obama has stated that her Hubby is Da Bomb! I'm not saying that she should be castigated for that. For Chrissakes 90 percent of the black voters said the same thing and I don't castigate them either. I just don't agree with her OR them and obviously YOU! When you declare for a candidate and stand up to extol his/her virtues you have to expect incoming fire. IF you can't do that just keep your opinions to yourself. The ONLY exception that I personally make on that account is if an underage child, [certainly not the Cheney girls] but a child like Obama has. If they told me that their daddy was great I'd say good for you kid. Those little kids might be the only ones loving him before it's all over.
If the Bush admin. had hired a law firm associated with them to represent the KKK, what would the leftist Sun be saying.
"If the Bush admin. had hired a law firm associated with them to represent the KKK, what would the leftist Sun be saying."
Stop stealing from Bernie Goldberg - he doesn't like it.
An attorney who represents their client does not always believe what their client believes. Just because you represent someone (KKK, the Mob, etc.) does not mean you agree with them.
Now, in your hypothetical if a lawyer who represented the KKK then goes into DOJ and erodes civil rights for minorities...then yeah, we got a problem.
The bottom line leftwing a--holes is that the American people have a right to know who these people in THEIR government are (are you actually going to argue against that, hmmm,leftwing a--holes?). Your God Obama said his administration is going to be "transparent", so where is it?
If Dick Cheney is an adult as designated by milt, then why wasn't he adult enough to fight for his country when called upon to do so? Five deferments! This is not the action of an adult but of a petulant child afraid of getting his own skin in danger. He may be an adult in terms of years lived but as far as I and a lot of people are concerned, he is an old turd and a waste of skin. What about you, milt, any service to your country in your resume, or are you just another Dick???
DougDem:
Exactly! SOMEONE has to fight the 'opposition' case!
Calthompian:
"Michele Obama has stated that her Hubby is Da Bomb!"
Yeah? Laura stated HER hubby was SMART!!! (The last smart thing he did, was when he convinced HER to marry him!)
I'm just saying- that sort of support should be EXPECTED by a spouse- not open them up to PERSONAL ridicule.
If she wears an unflattering dress- what effect could that POSSIBLY have, on the merit (or lack thereof) of any of her husband's policies or proposals?
I personally don't like Michelle Obama because she made a statement once that chapped my ass. She has never apologized or even explained herself and for that I think she is weak.
I have less respect for any politician that brings his wife into the fray. When a spouse pimps for her/his spouse I usually ignore everything she/he says. They are only there for self-aggrandizement. I feel I have come very far in my assessment of women. I used to think that a woman's place was in the Mall. Now I think it is okay for a woman to be in public life and even run for office. I campaigned for Hillary and voted for her also.
Calthompian:
You have come a long way, Baby!
All I'm saying is it's fine to dislike Michelle for that statement...not to dislike her over trivia.
"I campaigned for Hillary and voted for her also."
See? We CAN agree, on SOME things! ;D
SgtRock Who secrectly flew The Saudi's out of America two days after 911? Bush did. How many Saudi's were involved in 911? How many Iraqi's were involved in 911? None. You are a disgusting idiot.
jlb101 Ann Coulter is a man and your an idiot. Ann Coulter has an adams apple that is bigger than any part of your body. You need to get your eyes checked unless you like girly men.
isn't MICHELLE related to the 'GRINCH"? Just look at them side by side... could be brother and sister!
I have seen Ann Coulter in the Men's Room.
This is facinating...I don't just want to know who these lawyers are. I want to know who they represented, what the outcomes were, and I'd actually like to know if they're all from Chicago.
I guess it should be no surprise that Eric Holder and the White House can't find 9 lawyers that have NOT represented terrorists. That would be like Obama trying to appoint someone that has paid all of their taxes.
"This is facinating...I don't just want to know who these lawyers are. I want to know who they represented, what the outcomes were, and I'd actually like to know if they're all from Chicago."
Why? So you can harass them some more?
This is why it's so hard to find people who are willing to take cases where the defendant is a horrible person.
John Walker Lindh was a horrible person. He was still an American citizen, and thus entitled to legal counsel.
Jose Padilla was a horrible person. He was still an American citizen, and thus entitled to legal counsel.
If you try to argue that they forfeited their citizenship (and thus their right to counsel), what's the end point?
Each lawyer who swears an oath upon admission to the state bar is then obligated to provided a certain amount of legal services on a pro bono basis. These lawyers did their pro bono work in this capacity. They did not receive payment.
Douglas,
You're wrong on a few counts. First, I haven't harrassed anyone. Second, it's not at all hard to find people willing to defend horrible people - what rock have you been living under? Lawyers line up for miles to defend horrible people all the time. Third, what do JWL and Jose Padilla have to do with this subject? They weren't even detained at Gitmo! Fourth, I don't think any lawyer choosing to represent Salim Hamden (OBL's bodyguard and driver of many years that was captured with two shoulder-fired missiles in his trunk ) belongs working for the White House or the DOJ. If that's the type of 'giving back' pro bono these lawyers have to give, they need to find jobs that don't pay them with public taxpayer money.
And I'll be waiting to learn who I've harassed.
I'm also still waiting for that 'transparency in government' we were promised during the campaign. We did finally get one health care (not debate) lecture on CSPAN. The public has a right to know. If there is no conflict of interest or breach of ethics, tell us who these lawyers are, who they defended, and what type of work they are doing for our government today. Are they working on anything related to detainees? Guantanemo? Enemy combatants? Man made disasters? I think this administration is so arrogant they don't think they need to tell us anything. My favorite recent quote came from the Speaker of the House on the healthcare bill, "It's very exciting, we'll have to pass the bill so you can see what's in it."
Not "you" as in you specifically, henderson. "You" as in all the people on this thread who somehow believe that these seven people deserve to have their lives publicly ruined for doing pro bono work for people whose only crime may have been pissing off the wrong warlord in Afghanistan.
JP and JWL are relevant because 2 of these 7 people involved worked on their cases, and no other cases involving detainees.
And for your request? The FOIA allows disclosure to be denied when "disclosure of information about him or her 'could reasonably be expected to endanger [his/her] life or physical safety.'"
Judging from the comments I've seen all over the place, I think reasonability has been met. And so will a judge.
Nobody said the lives of these attorneys should be publicly ruined. They just don't belong on the government payroll earning our tax dollars. There is plenty of work for these people in the private sector.
Any lawyer so ashamed of his or her pro bono work that they refuse to stand by it should find less shameful causes. Likewise, if Eric Holder is too embarrassed to name these lawyers that he has working for the DOJ, he should have selected less shameful candidates.
We the people have every right to know who is employed by the DOJ with our tax dollars AND their history. Remember, they work for us.
"We the people have every right to know who is employed by the DOJ with our tax dollars AND their history."
Not if publishing that information would put their lives and/or physical safety at risk. That's one exception to the Freedom Of Information Act.
There is enough evidence out there to make a claim that disclosure would threaten their safety (would you like a list of comments saying that these attorneys should be executed). That's good enough for a judge to say you can make all the requests you want, they just won't be honored.
Again, if the DOJ can not tell the American people what lawyers are being paid with our tax dollars than they need to hire other lawyers.
I'm sorry if that's hard for you to understand but the government owes us the right to know.
If we can't know, than they shouldn't be working for the DOJ.
As I said, I guess for this administration finding 9 lawyers that didn't defend terrorists would probably be as difficult as finding cabinet appointees that paid all of their taxes.....Or like having to worship at the church of a reverend for 20 years that hates America because you just couldn't find a better church....or like finding friends that didn't wish they had bombed more government buildings and banks in America.
Geez good people are so hard to find when you're a D- Chicago.