Dawn Johnsen trashed by Senate in the ultimate news garbage dump

by: Daniel De Groot

Sun Dec 27, 2009 at 01:01

Johnsen's appointment to head the DoJ Office of Legal Counsel has been languishing since March, when the Senate Judiciary Committee reported her nomination to the floor favourably.

Think Progress reports that her nomination was blocked by Ben Nelson and Arlen Specter, plus, one assumes, all Republicans.  Specter re-iterated his opposition to Johnsen after joining the Democratic caucus, and Nelson objected to her bizarrely on the (probably contrived) grounds of her views on Abortion (as OLC isn't exactly a major battleground on abortion policy).

It's worth writing about this to make them pay some price for doing this in the ultimate news void time of year, and also to point out that the Senate's many glaring and egregious flaws go deeper than the filibuster.  Johnsen was returned along with 5 other Obama nominees, none of whom even got a cloture vote, never mind a floor vote.

The Dawn Johnsen Story - what is it? (UPDATED)

by: skeptic06

Sat Dec 05, 2009 at 20:32

She's Obama's nom for Chief of Office of Legal Counsel - and has been since Feb 11.

She seems like an OK person and excellent teacher, which is good, but also thoroughly competent - in case one doubted this, she also has the experience of having done the job for a coupla years under Clinton.

As a job candidate, you struggle to get better than this.

But she's never had a floor vote. Ben Nelson and Specter oppose the nom, but so far as I can tell, haven't said that they would filibuster (a suggestion that Nelson wouldn't - from May!).

Specter has a quibble about her paperwork; with Nelson. it may be hostage-taking, as well as the usual.

The Mainers haven't tipped their hand, according to Wiki; Lugar is supporting the home-state gal.

As of May 15, it seemed that, on cloture, Johnsen had 58 votes, with the Mainers, Specter and Nelson unknowns (though the piece says that Nelson rarely denies cloture to noms he opposes).

A month later, no movement.

Since then, we've had Franken come on board, and six months for Harry to try and snag that extra vote to get to 60.

Given the importance of the OLC honcho as the Prez's own legal eagle, WH inaction on the nom is obviously explicable only by facts of which the Great Unwashed are currently unaware.

So far as I call tell, Johnsen hasn't exactly got her hopes up (she has her family and job back in Bloomington). But it would, at the very least, be courtesy from the WH either to move her nom to the floor or to withdraw it and try again.

But they obviously see some merit in squatting in no-man's land.

Me neither.

More

My interest remains piqued.

According to this from October 30, Harry's problem is not so much that he hasn't the votes for cloture, but

Republicans' insistence on 30 hours of debate before the Senate can actually vote on the nomination has made it difficult for Reid to put the vote on the calendar.

I don't think the count has changed since Franken arrived - loads of no-pressure legislative days to get Johnsen through. Of course Nov/Dec isn't a good time!

(Also, this piece.)

DoJ noms were also brought into the Rahmbo case against Greg Craig, apparently. (I'm sure Johnsen was delighted to be able to serve her President in at least one capacity!)

People (including righty lawyers) saying nice things about Johnsen here and here.

So - where are we right now?

Johnsen, very sensibly, is back in Bloomington getting on with her real life with, I'm assuming, zero expectations of WH work.

Both the WH and Harry have had other priorities for a long time, and couldn't press for the nom anytime soon even if they sufferred a Damascene conversion.

And the role of OLC honcho is being performed (in case you were wondering) by David Barron, a Harvard prof not important enough for Mr Wiki to give him an entry of his own.

"President" Ben Nelson, Dittohead

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun May 03, 2009 at 10:37

President Nelson Makes The Call

by dday

So the President from Nebraska has weighed the options, peeked at his campaign account, and decided with a heavy heart that he just couldn't let Americans have better health insurance choices:

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Friday that he will oppose legislation that would give people the option of a public health insurance plan. The move puts him on the opposite side of two-thirds of Americans.

A poll released this week by Consumer Reports National Research Center showed that 66 percent of Americans back the creation of a public health plan that would compete with private plans. Nelson, in comments made to CQ, joins the 16 percent of poll respondents who said they oppose the plan.

Nelson's problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. "At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game," Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a "deal breaker."

It's not just health care, of course.  Nelson's been on quite a tear the last couple of weeks.  But before I get into that, let's let dday finish the setup, and he explains it's not just the money from the health care and insurance industries:

Dawn Johnsen, and Big Changes at the Office of Legal Counsel

by: Edger

Tue Jan 06, 2009 at 14:07

Dawn Johnsen, whom Obama is appointing to head up the Office of Legal Counsel, John Yoo's old haunt, is author of an issue brief: "All the President's Lawyers:  How to Avoid Another "Torture Opinion" Debacle" and an article on guidelines for the President's legal advisors.

Dawn Johnsen: The Role of the OLC and DOJ (At The American Constitution Society)

She spoke at an October 2007 event on principles to guide the Department of Justice. Below are excerpts from that panel discussion.

Dawn Johnsen discusses the role of the Office of Legal Counsel.