Our friends from the left coast chime in on the never-ending saga that is Dawn Johnsen's confirmation process. In short, they're tired of waiting.
The Office of Legal Counsel, which interprets law for the executive branch, became notorious in the days of John Yoo, a George W. Bush appointee who provided his bosses with specious legal opinions giving cover to the use of torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists. Johnsen was scathingly critical of the Bush-era office, asking in one blog post: "Where is the outrage, the public outcry?!" Republicans who had no problem with the office interpreting the law to accommodate the Bush administration's tactics in the war on terror now fault Johnsen for supposedly harboring a liberal agenda.
But Johnsen isn't simply a Yoo in reverse. She was among a group of former Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who published a thoughtful position paper about its mission. "When providing legal advice to guide contemplated executive branch action," the paper said, "OLC should provide an accurate and honest appraisal of applicable law, even if that advice will constrain the administration's pursuit of desired policies."
That philosophy obviously is a rebuke of the way the Bush Justice Department operated. But it also could lead the office to take a more critical look at some dubious Obama administration initiatives, including the president's apparent intention to hold 50 Guantanamo detainees without trial.
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