Posted by
Defend America on Monday, March 15, 2010 11:12:14 PM
The Case for Full Disclosure
Advocating for the enemy is a modern anomaly.
Andrew C. McCarthy on why Americans have the right to know what
positions government lawyers have taken.
While Attorney General Eric Holder was in private practice, he had signed an amicus brief in the controversial District of Columbia v. Heller case,
in which the Supreme Court invalidated the District of Columbia's ban
on firearms in 2008. Mr. Holder had supported the ban.
When Mr. Holder was nominated to lead the Obama Justice Department,
letters of support and opposition poured into the Senate from
law-enforcement groups and gun-rights advocates, respectively. The
commentariat, including several Holder admirers from the Republican
establishment, debated his argument that the Constitution guaranteed
only a "collective" right to gun ownership, not an individual one. At
his confirmation hearing, senators closely questioned Mr. Holder on the
views espoused in the brief, gauging whether, as attorney general, he'd
be able to follow the contrary Heller ruling.
Opinions varied about what Mr. Holder's amicus brief portended for
firearms enforcement policy. Everyone, however, agreed on one point:
The brief was highly relevant. Mr. Holder, after all, was a volunteer.
He did not participate in the Heller litigation because he
had to, but because he wanted to. There are countless causes that an
attorney, looking to donate his skills, can support. When he chooses
one, it matters. It very likely indicates the direction in which he'd
like to take the law.
Until a couple of weeks ago, this was not a controversial
proposition. It is now because of a television ad aired by a
conservative group, Keep America Safe. The spot pressured the Obama
administration, which has famously promised unprecedented transparency,
to disclose the names of seven Justice Department political appointees
who, while in private practice, voluntarily represented detainees at
Guantanamo Bay. The Justice Department had stonewalled Republican
lawmakers on this information for months. Then the Keep America Safe ad
riveted public attention with the succinct but explosive question: "Who
are the al Qaeda Seven?"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575117613313731980.html