Robert Byrd

Byrd Released From Hospital

Brian Beutler | June 30, 2009, 3:02PM

Speaking of Democratic votes, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), who has been hospitalized for weeks, has been released to recuperate at home.

Though it's unclear when exactly he'll be able to return to the Senate to vote, his absence--like Al Franken's--has complicated Democratic efforts to accomplish key goals, including confirming DOJ-nominee Dawn Johnsen.

Harold Koh

Koh Confirmed To State Department

Brian Beutler | June 25, 2009, 5:11PM

The State Department (finally) has a new legal adviser. Harold Koh was confirmed by the Senate this afternoon by a vote of 62-35.

That's actually a slightly narrower margin than he received on the cloture vote that ended the filibuster on his nomination. That vote was 65-31, indicating that a small handful of senators didn't support the filibuster, but then voted against confirmation. We'll track down who those senators are once the roll call goes live. Their precedent is one that supporters of Justice Department nominee Dawn Johnsen have been hoping for for months. But at least for the time being it seems as if very few of her opponents are willing to at least support giving her an up or down vote.

Late update: Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Judd Gregg (R-NH) voted to end the filibuster on Koh, and then voted against his confirmation.

Dawn Johnsen

Dawn Johnsen--Now Inside The Beltway!

Brian Beutler | June 22, 2009, 6:46PM

Although her confirmation process has been stalled for months now, Dawn Johnsen seems confident that she's poised for a breakthrough. Maybe. Johnsen--who was nominated in April to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel--has been spotted around Washington in recent days, and is rumored to have moved in to town. And she's certainly not here to work for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE).

For all intents and purposes--and thanks to the support of Republican Dick Lugar--Johnsen hasn't needed a ton of extra GOP support. For a while, Nelson himself was the key roadblock and he endured a lot of criticism as a result. But with his cloture vote looking more likely, now--and with Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) in poor health--Johnsen's confirmation now rests on the support of Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. And their reluctance is at least as puzzling as Nelson's.

Nelson, after all, is a pro-life Democrat from a conservative state, and, whether or not these concerns are sincere, Johnsen's detractors cite her history of pro-choice advocacy as their main grounds for opposition. But Collins and Snowe are pro-choice. And, moreover, they both have a consistent record of opposing the obstruction of executive branch nominees. Both Collins and Snowe voted to end every filibuster of Clinton and George W. Bush nominees. (Earlier this year, Collins supported a brief filibuster of Interior Department hopeful David Hayes, after Sen. Harry Reid ignored the objections of Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) who had placed a hold on his nomination--but Hayes was ultimately confirmed, with little controversy, by voice vote.)

For Snowe and Collins to slow walk Johnsen like this doesn't make much sense when you look at their records. But maybe Johnsen knows something we don't know.

James Inhofe

David Hamilton Reported Out Of Judiciary Committee On Party Line Vote

Brian Beutler | June 4, 2009, 12:44PM

With all the news about President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, it's easy to forget that Obama nominated a different judge to a different court before well before Sonia Sotomayor became a household name.

Obama nominated David Hamilton to serve on the Seventh Circuit court of appeals back in March, and, thanks to a number of Republican delays, he has only today been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line 12-7 vote.

Now Hamilton will be exposed to a bright new world of procedural measures meant to obstruct his confirmation. Back in April, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said he would filibuster Hamilton once the committee advanced the nomination. "I had to come to the floor to speak so that the American people, who are very concerned about this nomination, will know that I and my Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee are taking interest and are not just going to let this nomination sail through," Inhofe said on the Senate floor. "In fact I will filibuster David Hamilton."

That's the same James Inhofe who once called judicial filibusters 'unconstitutional.'

(Incidentally, Hamilton is the brother-in-law of Dawn Johnsen--another Obama nominee who's struggling to get confirmed by the Senate.)

Ben Nelson

Nelson On Sotomayor: 'I Look Forward To Learning More'

Brian Beutler | May 26, 2009, 3:30PM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)--who's been giving Barack Obama a tough time of late--has released a statement on the Sotomayor nomination. "President Obama is to be commended for selecting a nominee with a significant breadth and depth of legal experience to replace retiring Justice David Souter," Nelson says, "I look forward to learning more about Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background, record and qualifications -- and to meeting with her to discuss her judicial philosophy -- as this important United States Supreme Court nomination moves forward."

Nelson supported both of George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees, and gave the previous President wide latitude on judicial and executive nominations in general. But in recent weeks he's become a key obstacle to the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen, who Obama nominated to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel months ago.

His full statement is below the fold.

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Ben Nelson

Ben Nelson: Now More Conservative Than Ever

Brian Beutler | May 25, 2009, 1:37PM

If you read this site fairly regularly, you might be thinking that President Obama is having some issues with the Senate. And you'd be correct. Here's an abbreviated list of hurdles: Dawn Johnsen can't be confirmed to head the Office of Legal Counsel; health care reform may have to do without a public option--if it happens at all; and Obama's goal of shuttering the Guantanamo Bay detention center by early 2010 is suddenly imperiled by the common cousins of conservative demagoguery and Democratic sheepishness.

The examples are manifold. And the voices of opposition are united.

"No way I can vote for her," says a senator of Dawn Johnsen.

Seeking to protect health insurance companies, which would be hard pressed to compete with a government provider, one senator called the idea of a publicly run insurance option a "deal breaker."

And on Guantanamo, the voice of the opposition in the Senate can be summed up thusly: "I think they need to be kept elsewhere, wherever that is. I don't want to see them come on American soil."

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Guantanamo Bay

Off Track: Senate Democrats Block Funding To Close GITMO After White House Left Them High And Dry

Brian Beutler | May 20, 2009, 3:19PM

We reported earlier that the Senate voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to strip the funding for the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay from a supplemental war spending bill.

The move has angered many. It comes a day after Senate Democrats announced they would withhold the money until the White House settles on a comprehensive plan for dealing with detainees--and critics on the left are charging that Democratic leaders have caved to Republican scare tactics.

That's certainly part of the story--but a bigger problem, according to several sources, has been the White House's failure, for months, to co-ordinate strategy and messaging on the issue with Congress, where the bulk of opposition to the plan lies.

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Arlen Specter

Specter's Slow Move To The Left Begins?

Brian Beutler | May 15, 2009, 2:26PM

When Arlen Specter became a Democrat nearly three weeks ago, everyone in Washington was extremely "surprised," but nobody was really all that surprised. Specter had been taking a beating from the right for, among other things, supporting the stimulus bill. He had lost the confidence of many in his party and, to ward off attackers, he was tacking steadily to the right to protect himself from a primary challenge he nonetheless seemed poised to lose.

So he became a Democrat. The move made sense as a matter of both Senate and electoral politics. Specter fits in just as well among the significant ranks of conservative Senate Democrats as he does among the ever-shrinking ranks of moderate Republicans, and his move into the majority renews what had been his dwindling hopes of re-election.

But then, unthinkably, he doubled down on all of the positions he'd taken as a threatened Republican. He bucked his new party on health care, reiterated his freshly minted objection to the Employee Free Choice Act (a bill he once wholly endorsed), and he flatly opposed the nomination of Dawn Johnsen, who President Obama has nominated to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Now, though, he's showing some signs of easing up on the Republicanisms.

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Arlen Specter

In Limbo: Dawn Johnsen's Nomination Stalls Thanks to Democrats

Brian Beutler | May 15, 2009, 11:44AM

For several weeks--while torture revelations have dominated headlines and with the scandal still very much alive--Dawn Johnsen has been waiting. She's Obama's pick to head the Office of Legal Counsel--the same Justice Department shop that famously blessed Bush-era interrogation policies--and her strong stance on that issue has united Republicans against her. But that's not her biggest problem. Her biggest problem is that Harry Reid has not been able to muster enough Democrats to overcome a filibuster threat.

Here are the numbers as they stand right now:

Votes Against Johnsen: 37 Republicans

Votes for Johnsen: 57 Democrats plus Indiana Republican Richard Lugar

Undecideds: Republicans Olypmia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democrats Arlen Specter and Ben Nelson

Reid frames the issue by saying he needs a couple Republicans to cross the line before he has the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. But as the numbers show, it's just as much an issue of Reid not being able to muster the entire Democratic caucus in support of Johnsen.

The nomination isn't dead yet, but with Reid trying to put the onus on the White House to shore up support for the beleaguered nominee and the White House staying mum about what it role in all this is, or should be, Johnsen's nomination isnt going anywhere fast.

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Arlen Specter

What Democrats' Inability To Move Johnsen Forward Says About Democrats

Brian Beutler | May 13, 2009, 5:54PM

Greg Sargent gets the answers from Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) that I've been seeking for weeks. The two both say they remain undecided about the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday that he'd need "a couple" Republicans to cross the line before he could move Johnsen's confirmation to the floor, as Greg notes, this suggests her nomination's simply stalled--not dead in the water.

But here's the corollary to that.

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Dawn Johnsen

Reid Admits It: 'I Don't Have Votes For Johnsen...Yet'

Brian Beutler | May 13, 2009, 9:02AM

It's been clear for weeks now that Senate leadership hadn't brought the question of confirming Dawn Johnsen--the President's nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel--to a vote on the floor because he hasn't had the votes. Sen. Harry Reid's office never said as much, but how else to explain that other, less critical nominations were moving and not hers?

Last night Reid made it explicit. "Right now we're finding out when to do that," Reid said, according to Roll Call. "We need a couple Republican votes until we can get to 60."

Right now there are 59 Democrats in the caucus. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has said he's "concerned" about her nomination, but his office strongly suggested to me that he'd vote for cloture on her confirmation. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) has said he "opposes" Johnsen, but hasn't answered the cloture question thusfar. Republican Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), though, says he supports her. Assuming Nelson's cloture vote really will be there, but that Specter will continue his...unpredictable streak, that means Democrats need one more Republican to get behind her.

For what it's worth, the Senators from Maine haven't responded to my repeated requests for comment on this question.

Justice Department

Sessions: A Moderate On Judicial Nominees?

Brian Beutler | May 7, 2009, 9:14AM

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the freshly minted ranking member on the judiciary committee surprised Neal Cavuto last night by saying he could easily see voting for a pro-choice Supreme Court nominee.

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Chuck Grassley

Grassley: We'll Abandon Our Principles For Political Expediency

Brian Beutler | May 6, 2009, 9:15AM

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)--who, it's important to note, will probably be the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee next Congress--is on the record saying the President should be given deference when selecting his nominees. In a 2005 New Yorker article, he told Jeffrey Toobin, "Filibusters are designed so that the minority can bring about compromise on legislation. But you can't compromise a Presidential nomination. It's yes or no. So filibusters on nominations are an abuse of our function under the Constitution to advise and consent."

A number of Republicans have been quoted over the years laying out a similar philosophy, and that's led many to suspect that even conservative betes noir like Dawn Johnsen will be able to avoid a filibuster and sail to confirmation. But, as it turns out, that principle is an artifact of an era when the filibuster was about the only lever of power the Democrats held. Today the situation is more than reversed, and Republicans like Grassley are discovering not-so-subtle ways to abandon their old beliefs. "I will not vote for Dawn Johnsen and I will support a filibuster because she is so extreme in her views on that point," Grassley told one blogger.

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Dawn Johnsen

Republican Opposition Crumbling--Lugar To Support Johnsen

Brian Beutler | April 28, 2009, 5:36PM

So much is in flux right now that it's hard to keep everything straight, but here's an important update. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) will support the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Johnsen is a professor at Indiana University--one of Lugar's constituents--and, as such, it makes sense that Lugar would be a swing vote.

Assuming nobody in the Democratic caucus (save, perhaps, it's newest member) chooses to obstruct, that leaves Democrats one vote shy of the 60-votes needed to break a potential Republican filibuster. And that doesn't account for the fact that a number of Republicans (moderates, and others who are on the record opposing the filibuster of presidential nominees) have yet to break silence.

Earlier today once and current Democrat Arlen Specter said he opposes Johnsen's nomination, but his staff was unable to confirm just yet whether that means he'd support a filibuster or not.

Arlen Specter

Specter Opposes Johnsen

Brian Beutler | April 28, 2009, 2:40PM

At his press conference just now, Sen. Arlen Specter (RD-PA) had a brief answer to the question of whether he now supported Dawn Johnsen's nomination to be chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. In short, no.

Now, there's a familiar vagueness to the question, and therefore to the answer. Specter said he "opposes" Johnsen, but, as with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), that doesn't mean he'll vote to filibuster her nomination. We'll get a clearer answer on that question as soon as possible.

Late update: Specter's staff has no updates on the senator's position on cloture, but more details could be forthcoming soon.

Arlen Specter

Leahy Comments On Specter: I Think He'll Be Happier

Brian Beutler | April 28, 2009, 2:17PM

As I hinted at in my previous post, it will be interesting (and important) to see what happens to Specter vis-a-vis the Judiciary Committee. Will he simply move on to the other side of Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and become the committee's senior Democrat? Or will there be more complicated machinations. Did leadership offer him a sweet deal that hasn't yet been revealed? And what does this mean for, among other issues, the nomination of Dawn Johnsen?

We'll try to get answers for all of those questions for you, but for now, here's Leahy's statement on the news of the day.

Senator Specter called me this morning. He and I have been friends for 40 years. We first met when we were both young prosecutors. We have a particular friendship, and he wanted me to know before it became in the press.

In talking with him, I had the impression that he went through much the same that Jim Jeffords of Vermont did. I had the impression that Senator Specter had a feeling that the Republican Party, a great party in this country, had left him - not the other way around.

I know how hard he has agonized. I believe he's going to be happier.

Dawn Johnsen

Sebelius' Filibustered Nomination To Move Forward--Why Not Johnsens?

Brian Beutler | April 27, 2009, 4:58PM

We haven't been following Kathleen's Sebelius' confirmation fight as closely as we have those of some other Obama nominees because, initially, she seemed like a shoe-in. The Senate Finance Committee advanced her nomination to head the Department of Health and Human Services by a wide margin just last week. But in the wake of some complaints from anti-abortion groups--including about her April 23 decision to veto the latest in a series of efforts by the Kansas legislature to limit late term abortions--she'll now be subjected to a cloture vote (or, if you don't speak Congress-ese, a filibuster).

Her initially-non-controversial nomination will likely come to a vote tomorrow, though, and she'll likely clear the 60 vote hurdle with the help of Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and possibly others.

But, of course, there's another female Obama nominee who's running into some trouble.

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Dawn Johnsen

Ben Nelson--Opposes Filibustering Nominees, Also Opposes Nominees

Brian Beutler | April 24, 2009, 2:08PM

Jumping off of this post, I just got some data on Ben Nelson's voting history--and it's certainly interesting. Nelson opposed the filibuster on the confirmation of two extremely controversial Bush appointees--EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, and, twice, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton (if you'll recall, Bolton was ultimately not confirmed, but became ambassador anyhow via recess appointment).

I've got a more complete history below the fold. The record tells a pretty convincing tale--Nelson generally opposes the filibuster on nominees, even if he doesn't like the candidate. Of course, if he decides to break with his own tradition and filibuster Dawn Johnsen, he'll have to explain to a lot of angry, senior Democrats why Bolton was worth an up and down vote but Johnsen is not.

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Senate

Sen. Nelson 'Concerned' About Johnsen, 'Usually Opposes' Obstruction

Brian Beutler | April 24, 2009, 11:22AM

Most of the focus on the obstruction of Dawn Johnsen has been on Republicans. They're the ones who might hold up her nomination, or stage a filibuster (i.e. file for cloture) so there's some good reason for that.

But what about pro-life Democrats? A Congressional Quarterly report this morning suggests that one pro-life Democratic senator--to wit Ben Nelson (D-PA)--might not support her nomination.

"Senator Nelson is very concerned about the nomination of Dawn Johnsen, based on her previous position as Counsel for NARAL. He believes that the Office of Legal Counsel is a position in which personal views can have an impact and is concerned about her outspoken pro-choice views on abortion," said spokesman Clay Westrope.

Ah, but there's an important technical distinction between "not supporting" a nominee and "actively filibustering" her. The question comes down to how Nelson would vote if Republicans subject Johnsen to a cloture vote. I spoke with a Nelson staffer myself just a moment ago and he didn't officially take the option off the table.

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Senate

Conservative Opposition To Johnsen Ramps Up

Brian Beutler | April 23, 2009, 9:48AM

With Congress back in session, and major liberal interest groups throwing throwing their weight behind her, is the conservative campaign to defeat Dawn Johnsen ramping up?

Some signs certainly point in that direction.

Yesterday, The Washington Times--one of the country's leading conservative newspapers--published an op-ed calling her a "radical" and urging Republicans (and, comically, Democrats) to filibuster the President's choice to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

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Dawn Johnsen

Specter Still Unsure On Johnsen Filibuster

Brian Beutler | April 21, 2009, 4:34PM

Regular readers know we've been following the nomination of Dawn Johnsen pretty closely. Johnsen is President Obama's choice to head the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel and her appointment has sent the right into conniptions for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, her writings on abortion and her criticisms of the Bush administration's Justice Department. Senate Republicans have even hinted at the possibility of filibustering her confirmation vote.

Two of the leading indicators on this front are the fact that a date has not been set for the nomination to be debated and voted on, and that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has not yet determined whether he'll support a filibuster (Johnsen's nomination cleared the committee on a party line vote from which Specter abstained).

Congressional Quarterly has an update from Specter, though, and the update is that...there is no update.

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Barack Obama

Jessica Rabbit: Call Your Senators, Urge Them To Confirm Dawn Johnsen

Brian Beutler | April 21, 2009, 9:09AM

If you live in a state with a Republican senator--or, more specifically one of the many Republican senators who used to decry filibustering executive nominations--you may be getting a phone call from a sultry-sounding supporter of Barack Obama's appointees.

Kathleen Turner, who you may remember from such films as Body Heat and The Jewel of the Nile, has agreed to record a robocall urging recipients to call their senators and tell them to confirm Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's designated chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

The call--which will go out in Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Utah--is part of a campaign by People for the American Way aimed at preventing Johnsen's nomination from being filibustered. Turner has been a member of the organization's board for years. The transcript of the robocall appears below the fold.

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Torture

Sen. Whitehouse: If Republicans Filibuster Johnsen, I'll Be Ready

Brian Beutler | April 17, 2009, 3:37PM

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) just held a conference call with reporters to discuss the nomination (and threatened filibuster) of Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's designated chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Council.

Whitehouse is a member of the Judiciary Committee and has repeatedly spoken out on Johnsen's behalf. Though it's uncertain whether Republicans will ultimately seek to block Johnsen's nomination, Whitehouse is prepared in the event that they do. "I actually have a little bit of ammunition gathered in the event that I happen to be...on the floor defending this," Whitehouse said.

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Barack Obama

NARAL Targeting Moderate Republicans, Conservative Democrats

Brian Beutler | April 7, 2009, 5:32PM

Yesterday I reported that NARAL is mobilizing in support of three Obama nominees--David Hamilton, Kathleen Sebelius, and Dawn Johnsen--who've been targeted by the right, at least in part, for their pro-life views.

Today, I spoke with NARAL's policy director Donna Crane, who gave me a bit more detail about the nature of their campaign. "We have emails going out [to members of Congress] almost every day," Crane said, "[and] we're doing phone banking for targeted senators."

Those targets won't come as much surprise. Crane says, "in general the senators we look at for these kinds of issues are the two senators from Maine, [Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins] pulled one way by their party and another by their values." She adds that "Sen. Specter...is somebody we're looking at very closely."

NARAL's reportedly also targeting some pro-life Democrats, though there's considerably less concern that they'll oppose any of these nominees.

Below the fold, a copy of a direct mailer NARAL issued as part of their efforts.

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Republicans

Republicans Against Obstructing Nominees Before They Were For It

Brian Beutler | April 7, 2009, 2:06PM

If Republicans truly plan to filibuster Dawn Johnsen--Obama's Office of Legal Counsel chief-designate--Democrats will be able to point to a long record of Republican statements decrying the very idea of obstructing a President's prerogative to choose his cabinet officials and advisers. The group People for the American Way is circulating a document quoting several high profile Republicans who once decried the practice in no uncertain terms.

When President Bush nominated the fairly controversial John Ashcroft to be his Attorney General, Republicans raced to his defense. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)--then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee--took to the Senate floor to argue that Democrats "must afford the President a significant degree of deference to shape his Cabinet as he sees fit."

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Arlen Specter

NARAL Mobilizes for Johnsen, Other Obama Nominees

Brian Beutler | April 6, 2009, 5:39PM

Civil rights groups aren't the only organizations rallying behind Dawn Johnsen. Women's organizations are getting involved as well. Last week, the group NARAL Pro-Choice America announced that it would be mobilizing activists and supporters to help confirm not just Johnsen, but two other Obama nominees--Judge David Hamilton nominated to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and Governor Kathleen Sebelius, nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Johnsen served as legal director for NARAL from 1988-1993 during which time she filed a brief which contained a footnote arguing that forcing a woman to carry a child to term against her will is "disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude". The quote has raised the ire of conservative groups and Republicans, including Sen. Arlen Specter who met with Johnsen last week to discuss that and other issues.

The group comes to the defense of their former colleague at a time when reports suggest that Republicans are contemplating a filibuster of her appointment.

NARAL's full statement follows below. Back in February, the umbrella group civilrights.org sent a letter to Specter and Judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy urging them to support Johnsen's nomination. Among the signatories were NARAL, the National Abortion Federation, National Council of Jewish Women, National Organization for Women, National Partnership for Women & Families, and the National Women's Law Center.

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Arlen Specter

Potential Johnsen Ally: Tom Coburn?

Brian Beutler | April 6, 2009, 5:13PM

Arlen Specter maybe an unknown for now, but Dawn Johnsen may also find an unlikely ally in Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn.

Back in 2005, during the nuclear option imbroglio Coburn took a fairly absolutist position on the Senate's advise and consent powers, telling the newspaper Tulsa World that no presidential nomination should ever be filibustered. "There is a defined charge to the president and the Senate on advice and consent," he said.

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Arlen Specter

Specter Meets Johnsen, Still Unsure About Her Nomination

Brian Beutler | April 6, 2009, 4:19PM

Senate Republicans may or may not mount a filibuster of Dawn Johnsen, but if they do, it will be a numbers game. Assuming Al Franken is still all tied up in court, Democrats will need at least two Republicans to cross over and vote to end debate on her nomination or it may go nowhere.

One of those Republicans could be Arlen Specter who's the ranking member on the Judiciary committee and the only member of that committee who didn't vote against moving the nomination to the floor. More specifically, he didn't vote at all. He took a pass, saying he'd have to meet with Johnsen personally before he made a decision.

Well, I've just confirmed that the two did meet at the end of last week, and, with that all wrapped up, Specter is...still undecided about the appointment.

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Senate

Civil Rights Group Mobilizing On Johnsen's Behalf

Brian Beutler | April 6, 2009, 3:29PM

While it's not clear how serious Senate Republicans are about filibustering Dawn Johnsen's nomination as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel at DOJ, civil rights groups aren't waiting to find out.

Marge Baker, executive vice president of People for the American Way says, "We're going to do whatever we can to mobilize our members to make sure they're in contact with their representatives."

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Arlen Specter

Do the 'Gang of 14' Think Johnsen and Koh Should Be Subject to Filibuster?

Brian Beutler | April 6, 2009, 1:19PM

As regular readers know, we've been following the nomination of Dawn Johnsen--Obama's chief-designate of the Office of Legal Counsel--ever since reports emerged that Republicans were contemplating filibustering the appointment.

Publicly, Republicans contend that one of their key objections to Johnsen's appointment is that she's a former NARAL employee and a staunch advocate of reproductive rights. But she's also unusually qualified for the position, having served at the OLC for five years during the Clinton administration, and her nomination comes against a backdrop of Republican anger over the possibility that the Department of Justice will declassify and release yet more damning torture memoranda. Johnsen was an outspoken critic of Bush administration policies and legal opinions used to justify them.

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Arlen Specter

Will the Republicans Filibuster Dawn Johnsen?

Brian Beutler | April 2, 2009, 6:48PM

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Republicans are weighing the possibility of using their much-beloved filibuster to block Obama judicial and DOJ appointees.

The current Republican focus is on a pair of nominees: Mr. Obama's first selection for a federal appeals court seat, David F. Hamilton, and his choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen. (By coincidence, the two are in-laws.)

But will they actually prevent an up or down vote? Democrats say early signs are troubling.

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Barack Obama

TPMDC Morning Roundup

Eric Kleefeld | April 1, 2009, 9:00AM

Obama And Brown Point To Unity In Economic Crisis
During their joint press conference earlier today, President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown assured the public that the world would not fall into the trap of protectionism that exacerbated the Great Depression: "That is a mistake that we cannot afford to repeat." Brown also pointed to the G-20 summit itself as a sign of consensus among world leaders: "As President Obama has said, never before has the world come together in this way to deal with an economic crisis."

Obama In London For G-20
President Obama is in London for the G-20 summit. At 3:05 a.m. ET he met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the two held a press conference at 5:15 a.m. ET. At 6:45 a.m. ET he met with Russian leaders. At 8 a.m. ET he met with British Conservative Party Leader David Cameron. At 9 a.m. ET he is meeting with Chinese leaders, and at 12:35 p.m. ET he will meet with the Queen of England. At 1 p.m. ET he will attend a reception for G-20 leaders, and at 3:30 p.m. ET they will hold a working dinner.

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