After six years the OLC still does not have a confirmed leader.

[midnight]

Nominee for the position believes she is being blocked by GOP because she opposes torture.


" Dawn Johnsen was uniquely qualified to lead the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel — the office which, under George W. Bush, produced “clearly erroneous” memos justifying the unlawful use of torture. In addition to leading that very same office herself during the Clinton administration, Johnsen spearheaded an effort to establish ten principles which would ensure that OLC never repeats its misguided Bush-era practices. Yet Republicans twice blocked her nomination. In an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, Johnsen suggests that her opposition to torture kept her from being confirmed to lead that office again

:While attention understandably is focused on confirming the president’s Supreme Court nominee, the OLC remains, after six years, without a confirmed leader.

It is long past time to halt the damage caused by the “torture memo” by settling on a bipartisan understanding of the proper role of this critical office and confirming an assistant attorney general committed to that understanding.

There is no simple answer to why my nomination failed. But I have no doubt that the OLC torture memo — and my profoundly negative reaction to it — was a critical factor behind the substantial Republican opposition that sustained a filibuster threat. Paradoxically, prominent Republicans earlier had offered criticisms strikingly similar to my own. A bipartisan acceptance of those criticisms is key to moving forward. The Senate should not confirm anyone who defends that memo as acceptable legal advice."




http://thinkprogress.org/

[madrchsod]

1. recess appointment

[midnight]

2. Something has to be done.

[pundaint]

3. I've got no problem with not staffing a position that clearly wields dictatorial power. Fix the way

the position works before filling it. The concept that a captured lawyer can legalize torture is about as contrary to American values as I can imagine.

[OnyxCollie]

4. K&R. nt