Prominent former Department of Justice officials are joining the growing criticism against efforts to question the ethics and loyalty of current DOJ attorneys who, in private practice, had advocated for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The Brookings Institution issued a statement on Sunday denouncing the attacks on DOJ attorneys as “shameful” and “unjust.” A group of lawyers in private practice as well as policy specialists at Brookings endorsed the joint statement. The 18-person list includes Sidley Austin partners Bradford Berenson and Peter Keisler, former acting attorney general; Hogan & Hartson partner Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. Attorney; Arnold & Porter partner John Bellinger III, former legal adviser to the State Department; former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who was recently named president of Baylor University.
