For the moment, the sorry Washington spectacle of the Al Qaeda 7 has been put to rest. This was the sad capital dustup in which a group connected with Liz Cheney, the former vice president’s daughter, and William Kristol, the former chief of staff to vice president Dan Quayle, suggested in a video advertisement that U.S. Department of Justice lawyers who, in private practice and on a pro bono basis, had represented Guantánamo detainees were somehow allied with terrorists and unfit to serve the republic.
In response, many establishment lawyers, including former solicitors general Kenneth Starr and Walter Dellinger, denounced the ad as “shameful.” They and others said all the right things, reminding the nation that lawyers must not be confused with their clients, that lawyers honor the system by defending the despised–even when they might be dangerous–and that several of their positions were ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, a vindication of their work.
