 |
|
June
26, 2002 8:45 a.m.
Justice
Speaks
Former
top government lawyers tell Patrick Leahy to lay off.
|
|
enate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy has run into bipartisan
opposition to his demand that the Justice Department turn over secret
documents in the confirmation battle over one of President Bush's most
prominent judicial nominees.
The nominee is Miguel
Estrada, picked for a seat of the federal court of appeals for the District
of Columbia. The 40-year-old Estrada is regarded by Washington Republicans
as a rising star with the potential to one day sit on the Supreme Court.
On the other side, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, along with allies
in liberal interest groups, have been scouring Estrada's record in search
of material that might be used against him in confirmation hearings.
There is no indication
that they have found much, if anything. Estrada's resume includes service
as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, a
five-year stay in the Justice Department's Office of Solicitor General,
and, since 1997, private practice in Washington, during which time Estrada
has argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court.
Last month, apparently
dissatisfied with examining that record, Leahy made an unprecedented demand.
He asked the Justice Department to hand over the internal legal recommendations
that Estrada wrote while in the Solicitor General's office from 1992 to
1997. A few weeks later, the Justice Department declined, calling the
documents "highly privileged."
Now, all seven living
former Solicitors General have written Leahy a letter warning him of the
dangers of such an inquiry. The letter, delivered on Tuesday, was written
by Seth Waxman, who served as Solicitor General under Bill Clinton. It
was sent to Leahy on behalf of not only Waxman but of Walter Dellinger
and Drew Days III, who also held the post under Clinton; Kenneth Starr,
who held it under the first President Bush; Charles Fried, who was Solicitor
General under President Reagan; Robert Bork, who served under President
Nixon; and Archibald Cox, who served under President Kennedy.
The letter begins
by explaining that the Solicitor General has to make some of the most
important legal decisions in the government, like whether to seek Supreme
Court review of cases that involve the United States. "When we made
these and other critical decisions, we relied on frank, honest, and thorough
advice from our staff attorneys, like Mr. Estrada," the letter says.
"Our decision-making process required the unbridled, open exchange
of ideas — an exchange that simply cannot take place if attorneys
have reason to fear that their private recommendations are not private
at all, but vulnerable to public disclosure."
The letter continues:
"Any attempt to intrude into the Office's highly privileged deliberations
would come at the cost of the Solicitor General's ability to defend vigorously
the United States' litigation interests — a cost that also would
be borne by Congress itself." Finally, the letter says that while
the former Solicitors General respect Leahy's responsibility to evaluate
the fitness of judicial nominees, "we do not think that the confidentiality
and integrity of internal deliberations should be sacrificed in the process."
It is not clear whether
Leahy intends to press the issue, but it does seem clear that the Justice
Department is strongly determined not to turn over the materials. Interest
groups like People for the American Way and the Alliance for Justice,
which are trying to derail the Estrada nomination, have urged the Judiciary
Committee to obtain the documents. But with the letter from seven distinguished
Republicans and Democrats who served as the nation's top lawyer, Leahy's
job has become much harder.
|
<% dim printurl
printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%>
