Posted on 6/26/2002, 1:12:25 PM by xsysmgr
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy has run into bipartisan opposition to his demand that the Justice Department turn over secret documents in the confirmation battle over one of President Bush's most prominent judicial nominees.
The nominee is Miguel Estrada, picked for a seat of the federal court of appeals for the District of Columbia. The 40-year-old Estrada is regarded by Washington Republicans as a rising star with the potential to one day sit on the Supreme Court. On the other side, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, along with allies in liberal interest groups, have been scouring Estrada's record in search of material that might be used against him in confirmation hearings.
There is no indication that they have found much, if anything. Estrada's resume includes service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, a five-year stay in the Justice Department's Office of Solicitor General, and, since 1997, private practice in Washington, during which time Estrada has argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court.
Last month, apparently dissatisfied with examining that record, Leahy made an unprecedented demand. He asked the Justice Department to hand over the internal legal recommendations that Estrada wrote while in the Solicitor General's office from 1992 to 1997. A few weeks later, the Justice Department declined, calling the documents "highly privileged."
Now, all seven living former Solicitors General have written Leahy a letter warning him of the dangers of such an inquiry. The letter, delivered on Tuesday, was written by Seth Waxman, who served as Solicitor General under Bill Clinton. It was sent to Leahy on behalf of not only Waxman but of Walter Dellinger and Drew Days III, who also held the post under Clinton; Kenneth Starr, who held it under the first President Bush; Charles Fried, who was Solicitor General under President Reagan; Robert Bork, who served under President Nixon; and Archibald Cox, who served under President Kennedy.
The letter begins by explaining that the Solicitor General has to make some of the most important legal decisions in the government, like whether to seek Supreme Court review of cases that involve the United States. "When we made these and other critical decisions, we relied on frank, honest, and thorough advice from our staff attorneys, like Mr. Estrada," the letter says. "Our decision-making process required the unbridled, open exchange of ideas — an exchange that simply cannot take place if attorneys have reason to fear that their private recommendations are not private at all, but vulnerable to public disclosure."
The letter continues: "Any attempt to intrude into the Office's highly privileged deliberations would come at the cost of the Solicitor General's ability to defend vigorously the United States' litigation interests — a cost that also would be borne by Congress itself." Finally, the letter says that while the former Solicitors General respect Leahy's responsibility to evaluate the fitness of judicial nominees, "we do not think that the confidentiality and integrity of internal deliberations should be sacrificed in the process."
It is not clear whether Leahy intends to press the issue, but it does seem clear that the Justice Department is strongly determined not to turn over the materials. Interest groups like People for the American Way and the Alliance for Justice, which are trying to derail the Estrada nomination, have urged the Judiciary Committee to obtain the documents. But with the letter from seven distinguished Republicans and Democrats who served as the nation's top lawyer, Leahy's job has become much harder.
However, all of the tactics he uses that break new ground (a la Chuckie's hearings on whether ideology is a good reason to reject judges -- answer = yes) will be used against the demonRATS in the future.
The attempted hijacking of the justice system will continue until this atrocity gets enough press to drive the general public wild.
All its gonna take is one or two more judges to release suspected terrorists or treat them lightly, as has already happened.
I sometimes suspect that the current Reid, Moussawi and Lindh trials were conducted in the normal process in order to raise the ire of the American people.
I think you are exactly right! It is a very public display of the damage that has been done to our justice system. The American people are getting a very up close and personal view of how our laws have been twisted by trial lawyers over the years and justice has been sacrificed.
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