Big News from DC: Obama Names Top Justice Department Officials; I'm Not One of Them

So, there's big news coming out of the Obama camp in the past couple of hours.  The President-elect has named four of his big appointees to serve under AG appointee Eric Holder in the Justice Department.  The nominees will be Elena Kagan, current Dean of Harvard Law, for Solicitor General (the person who argues on behalf of the U.S. government at the Supreme Court); David Ogden of WilmerHale as the Deputy AG, Tom Perrelli of Jenner & Block as the Associate AG, and Dawn Johnsen of the University of Indiana School of Law to head the Office of Legal Counsel, the office which in the Bush Administration issued the so-called "torture memo" and which I used to work for (pre-Bush Administration/torture/unbelieveable executive overreaching, etc.)

There are some pretty notable things to note here, and let me just note one.  For one thing, Obama picked Kagan over Kathleen Sullivan of Stanford Law School for the SG position.  I feel a little disappointed by that, only because I worked for KS as a research assistant in law school.  But it's really no surprise, and Kagan will be marvelous.  Yale Law School must be celebrating Harvard's loss of Kagan, though, since Kagan was a superstar dean who made all sorts of great improvements at Harvard, which now threatens Yale as the top law school in the US.  Johnsen is a terrific pick--if I'm not mistaken, she was one of Clinton's nominees for the same position but was never confirmed and either worked as the acting head or as a deputy; this was all before I got there so I'm not sure.  In any event, she's a leading thinker on Presidential power and very experienced and will certainly lead the office in the right direction.

I don't know Ogden at all, but Perrelli is a great guy--funny, a little goofy in a good way, and a ridiculously hard worker.  He worked himself way up in DoJ during the Clinton Administration at a very young age I would guess not only through his vast abilities but also because he's incredibly likeable and everyone likes him and also he's very likeable.  This may come as a surprise to some of you, but not all bigshot DC lawyers are likeable.  No, it's true.

One other thing to note about this group of nominees is that I am not in it.  Now, I guess I was kind of a long shot for SG, especially given how crappy I was at oral argument in moot court (KS herself was one of my judges, and she almost made me cry) and how I've never argued a single case anywhere in my life, but still, a guy's got to be kind of disappointed to be left out of such an exciting party. 

I guess the most important decisions left are who will be the ADAGs (Associate Deputy Attorney Generals) and the DAAGs (Deputy Associate Attorney Generals) and more importantly, who will be the PADAG (the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General) and the PDAAG (Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General).  I think I sort of remember that there was also an APDAG, but I can't quite figure out what position that would be.  Who knows, maybe I'll get it! 

Comments

[Rahm Emanuel's Missing Finger]

I think you should start actively campaigning -- Caroline Kennedy style -- for Secretary of Commerce. This may have gone overlooked by the traditional media, but Latin speakers are being completely shut out of the Obama cabinet. (The nerve!) You could definitely bring a little "frena pro feris teneo" to the Administration.

[Brian Foley]

If your book were out *now,* I think you would have had SG. Send the proofs to Obama now, and if anything trips up Kagan, you're in. She might have a nanny problem. She might have hired someone at HLS without a green card - serious ovesight might have been lost in the mass hiring shuffle over there. Analogy: Did McCain really vet Palin?

You might at least get head of OLC if Johnsen has confirmation problems - you were called something like "twisted and demented" over on Prawfsblawg, which surely qualifies you to write John Yoo-style legal memos.

[Rob]

"Torture memo"???? Gimme a break - you liberals just never get tired of repeating your lies, do you?

[Hoosier]

That would be Indiana University and NOT Univ of Indiana as you called it.