Robert Bauer’s fingerprints are all over the biggest legal decisions that come out of President Obama’s administration, even if Bauer’s boss is the one collecting the public credit and blame.

As the White House counsel, Bauer is helping to direct the thorny planning to restart military trials for detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On Bauer’s watch, Obama sparked a to-do by reversing his position on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.