By GottaLaff
Took long enough:
After months of GOP stalling tactics and conservative fearmongering, Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh was confirmed by the Senate today to be the State Department’s top legal adviser. He passed by a vote of 62-35, with five Republicans voting to confirm — Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME), Susan Collins (ME), Richard Lugar (IN), Mel Martinez (FL), and George Voinovich (OH).
By GottaLaff
Koh-conspirator:
Though President Obama nominated Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh to be chief legal adviser to the State Department in March, [...] at least one senator has placed an anonymous hold on Koh. Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) has told Koh’s supporters that he will bring Koh’s nomination for a vote sometime in the next two weeks:
Last night, after yesterday’s phone bank, we got word from inside sources that Senator Reid believes Harold has enough votes, and has decided to file for cloture on the nomination sometime in the next two weeks. While we do not have an exact date yet, it’s an indication that all of your calling is working!
Earlier this week, Obama said he had no plans to appoint Koh or other nominees currently blocked by Senate Republicans under recess appointments.
By GottaLaff
[A]n anonymous senator has placed a hold on Koh’s nomination, a source told Talking Points Memo:
Koh, who if confirmed will serve as legal adviser to the State Department, was reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about three weeks ago, but has languished ever since — a fact which, I’d imagine, makes him thrilled that he resigned as Dean of Yale’s Law School in order to serve in government.
Recall that before the committee vote, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) also placed a hold on Koh’s nomination. That delay only lasted a week.
The Facebook group “We Support Harold Hongju Koh” and Jay Michaelson at the Huffington Post both write that the hold has been placed by Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and David Vitter (R-LA). ThinkProgress called both Cornyn’s and Vitter’s offices, but was unable to confirm that they are responsible for the hold.
By GottaLaff
That information should have been made public.The best-kept secret in the halls of Congress -- until today -- may have been the extent to which New York's new senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, helped cigarette maker Philip Morris during her former employment as an attorney with the global law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell. Information about her relationship with the cigarette maker wasn't included in her official biography or her campaign materials, but on Friday, March 27, 2009, the New York Times published an article describing in detail how Gillibrand, under her maiden name Kirsten Rutnik, was involved at high levels in the legal affairs of Philip Morris.
In 1998, as an attorney at Davis Polk, Gillibrand served on Philip Morris' Privilege and Crime Fraud Committee, an elite group of attorneys from both inside and outside Philip Morris. Some of Gillibrand's colleagues on the Committee were full partners in their respective law firms, which reveals the respect she earned in her service to the company.
An unbiased look at Senator Gillibrand’s record shows that 100% of the time she has stood up for the health of our children, and stood firmly against big tobacco.
Senator Gillibrand has voted repeatedly to tax tobacco products to pay for children's health insurance and demand the FDA regulate tobacco products. She also strongly and consistently supports smoke-free laws, education initiatives and tobacco cessation programs to help tobacco users quit and prevent young people from ever starting to smoke. She is also advocating for tough Internet access regulations to ensure that children can’t purchase cigarettes online.
By GottaLaff
Pilot to Koh-pilot-- Torture is bad:
President Obama has nominated one of the nation's prominent liberal academics to be the top lawyer at the State Department, another sign that the administration plans a big break with Bush administration policies in the war on terror.
Formally announced late yesterday but getting little attention today, the White House nominated Harold Koh, dean of the Yale Law School, to be the State Department's legal advisor.Koh has been one of the most outspoken opponents of Bush interrogation and detention policies. He told a 2005 Senate hearing that a Justice Department memo authorizing harsh interrogation methods was, "a stain on our law, a stain on our national reputation."
If confirmed, Koh would undoubtedly play a role in shaping the Obama administration's plans for closing down the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay. He has advocated putting terrorism detainees on trial in regular civilian U.S. courts, rather than before military tribunals. [...]
Koh is a Korean-American native of Boston. He served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and in the Reagan administration as a lawyer in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, where the most controversial Bush legal memos in the war on terror were written.
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