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Exclusive: Unknown DOJ Lawyers Identified
Fox News ^ | March 3, 2010 | Mike Levine

Posted on 03/03/2010 12:50:28 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY

A day after a conservative group released a video condemning the Justice Department for refusing to identify seven lawyers who previously represented or advocated for terror suspects, Fox News has uncovered the identities of the seven lawyers.

The names were confirmed by a Justice Department spokesman, who said "politics has overtaken facts and reality" in a tug-of-war over the lawyers' identities.

"Department of Justice attorneys work around the clock to keep this country safe, and it is offensive that their patriotism is being questioned," said Justice Department Spokesman Matt Miller.

The video by the group Keep America Safe, which dubbed the seven lawyers "The Al Qaeda 7," is the latest salvo in a lengthty political battle.

For several months, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has led an effort to uncover politically-appointed lawyers within the Justice Department who have advocated for Guantanamo Bay detainees or other terror suspects.

"The administration has made many highly questionable decisions when it comes to national security, " Grassley said in a recent statement. "[Americans] have a right to know who advises the Attorney General and the President on these critical matters."

An extensive review of court documents and media reports by Fox News suggests many of the seven lawyers in question played only minor or short-lived roles in advocating for detainees. However, it's unclear what roles, if any, they have played in detainee-related matters since joining the Justice Department.

Before joining the Justice Department, Jonathan Cedarbaum, now an official with the Office of Legal Counsel, was part of a "firm-wide effort" to represent six Bosnian-Algerian detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, according to the web site of the firm WilmerHale.

That effort brought the case Boumediene v. Bush to the Supreme Court, which reaffirmed the right of detainees to challenge their detention.

(Excerpt) Read more at liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/03/2010 12:50:28 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Needed:
A big sweep.


2 posted on 03/03/2010 12:55:46 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Impeachment !)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

“Department of Justice attorneys work around the clock to keep this country safe”

lolololol.


3 posted on 03/03/2010 12:57:42 PM PST by Psycho_Bunny
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I would contend that Obama himself “advocates for terror suspects” when he bows and scraps before Muslim leaders and tells them how great they are and how terrible America while he’s giving the finger to our loyal allies. IMPEACHMENT is the answer to this pretender.


4 posted on 03/03/2010 12:59:34 PM PST by Elkiejg (GO GLENN GO!!)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

LOL is for sure...what lawyer ever helped his country stay safe...hell they are running the war.......idiots.


5 posted on 03/03/2010 1:01:20 PM PST by goat granny
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To: Free ThinkerNY

If it’s proved that you are a member of a Terrorist Organization and not as an FBI/CIA plant, you don’t deserve an Attorney to defend you. You’re guilty. You should be hung, drawn and quartered, then your remains hung from the Brooklyn Bridge.


6 posted on 03/03/2010 1:02:56 PM PST by HighlyOpinionated (MAKE THE WHITE HOUSE A SMOKE FREE ZONE. No Cigarettes, Cigars or Pipes.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I’ll go one step further... AG Holder is also a despicable pro-enemy traitor.


7 posted on 03/03/2010 1:03:47 PM PST by babygene (Figures don't lie, but liars can figure...)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Exerpted names from the article...

Jonathan Cedarbaum of the firm WilmerHale

Eric Columbus, a former WilmerHale attorney

Karl Thompson, of the firm O'Melveny & Myers

Joseph Guerra, now Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department, was one of five lawyers from the firm Sidley Austin

Tali Farhadian, now an official in the Office of the Attorney General, was an attorney with the firm Debevoise & Plimpton

Beth Brinkmann, now Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Civil Division, was a partner with the firm Morrison & Foerster

Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division..., while working in Morrison & Foerster's San Francisco office

Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal

National Security Division Attorney Jennifer Daskal previously worked for Human Rights Watch, which advocates on behalf of detainees.

And under Bush:
Pratik Shah

Trisha Anderson

Varda Hussain

8 posted on 03/03/2010 1:15:51 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Working around the clock, except on the Christmas holidays, eh?


9 posted on 03/03/2010 1:18:10 PM PST by Carley (Are you better off now than one year ago? HELL NO!!!!!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
and it is offensive that their patriotism is being questioned

I question their patriotism. And their judgment. And their partisanship. And their honesty. And their ability to prosecute any phase of the war on the side of the people of the United States.

10 posted on 03/03/2010 1:25:58 PM PST by null and void (We are now in day 405 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: SpaceBar

Nobody from Covington & Burling? I don’t buy it.


11 posted on 03/03/2010 1:26:27 PM PST by battlecry
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To: Free ThinkerNY

So they’ve bargained they’re relations with their fellow Americans...for what?


12 posted on 03/03/2010 1:26:55 PM PST by mo
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Weich declined to identify the other lawyers, but he insisted that no political appointee at the Justice Department "would permit or has permitted any prior affiliation to interfere with the vital task of protecting national security, and any suggestion to the contrary is absolutely false." He also said that any suggestions of a "conflict of interest" are "an apparent misapprehension" of legal standards, adding that all political appointees have taken pledges to meet ethical standards.

Wow, they promised and everything! That sure puts things in a whole new light.

"Promise you'll be ethical?"

"Yep."

"Okay."

13 posted on 03/03/2010 1:38:11 PM PST by Eroteme
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To: Psycho_Bunny
like Napolitano - the inmates are truely running the asylum
14 posted on 03/03/2010 1:54:52 PM PST by tweakDU
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To: tweakDU
These lawyers are not yet "inmates" but one more 9/11 type attack they'll be crying for their mommies.

Some lawyers are just too ignant for their own good.

15 posted on 03/03/2010 2:16:51 PM PST by muawiyah ("Git Out The Way")
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