Sestak Tells Specter to Stop Blocking Dawn Johnsen

By SESTAK FOR SENATE

MEDIA, PA- Today, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Congressman Joe Sestak called on Senator Arlen Specter to stop supporting a threatened Republican filibuster that for nine months has blocked confirmation of President Obama’s choice, Professor Dawn Johnsen, to lead the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which provides authoritative legal advice to the President and Executive Branch.

“As the administration deals with crucial legal issues from interrogating and prosecuting terrorists to closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Arlen Specter and Senate Republicans have decided to tie the President’s hands by denying him a critical advisor,” said Joe. “Arlen has already reversed his position and followed my leadership on the health care public option, the Employee Free Choice Act, the Defense of Marriage Act, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell — it’s time for him to do so again and stop joining the GOP stonewalling of Professor Johnsen. It’s one thing to oppose the nominee, but it’s unacceptable to support the Republican’s obstructionist tactics to block a fair vote.”

When asked about Professor Johnsen when he left the Republican Party, Arlen Specter declared flatly, “I’m opposed to the nominee.”(1) His opposition stems from a report in the right-wing National Review highlighting a footnote in a decades-old legal brief issued by NARAL during her tenure as legal director. During confirmation hearings, Specter said: “In your writings you go pretty far to one end of the political spectrum.” (2)

A Professor at University of Indiana law school, a Yale law graduate, and former acting head of President Clinton’s OLC, Professor Johnsen is highly qualified for the position. (3) She has earned the support of Republican Senator Richard Lugar and drawn bipartisan praise from previous OLC chiefs Walter Dellinger, who served under President Clinton, and Douglas Kmiec, who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. (4)

“Opposition to Professor Johnsen does not have to do with her qualifications to head of the Office of Legal Counsel,” said Joe Sestak. “Rather, it has to do with her pro-choice views and her vocal, but justified, opposition to extra-legal practices of the Bush administration. I call on my colleague, Arlen Specter, to state unequivocally that he will stop supporting Republican obstructionist tactics and stop depriving the President of his most important legal advisor in this difficult and dangerous time.”

(1) Main Justice, “Specter Comes Out Against Dawn Johnsen,” April 28, 2009.

http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/04/28/will-specter-party-switch-put-dawn-johnsen-over-the-top/

(2) The Washington Independent, “OLC Nominee Could Face Bruising Battle With Republicans,” February 25, 2009.

http://washingtonindependent.com/31526/olc-nominee-could-face-bruising-battle-with-republicans

(3) Official bio, The University of Indiana Maurer School of Law

http://info.law.indiana.edu/sb/page/normal/1419.html

(4) The Washington Independent, “Johnsen Opposition Mum on Possible Filibuster,” October 26, 2009.

http://washingtonindependent.com/65031/johnsen-opposition-mum-on-possible-filibuster

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