Fifteen months after her name surfaced as the nominee for a top U.S. Justice Department post, Dawn Johnsen pulled out of the job Friday amid staunch Republican opposition.
Johnsen would have led the Office of Legal Counsel, advising the executive branch on thorny questions of how to interpret the law and the Constitution. In a statement, she said she had hoped to restore the office to “its best nonpartisan traditions” — a goal that fell apart when senators objected to her writings about abortion rights and national security.
