I think he basically tossed her name out as a pacifier and at heart he may not care if it’s never, but he will have bought himself some trouble if it is never. She’s married to Lee Hamilton’s nephew (another reason why I think it’s pretty clear that if Obama wanted her through, she’d be in by now) so I don’t think he will want to just cast her aside completely. If I had to bet (and I’m old timey Methodist on betting, so I don’t) I’d say he is waiting to get as much egregious crap out of Congress as possible, then he’ll put her in.

IOW, if releasing pictures and engaging in illegal surveillance and torturing at Bagram etc. are all no longer matters of Executive Order, but instead Obama and Kagan have finished out their threesome with Goldmsith and adopted his policy of, “hey, our only fault wasn’t that we tortured cabdrivers to death through horrible, gruesome, group participation rituals that we encouraged and solicited, but rather that we didn’t get Congressional leglislation to back up our torture program” – - if Obama instead is getting Congressional legislation for all he wants to do, then it is “safe” to bring Johnson in, bc she’s not likely to end up touching much at that point. She won’t be typically reviewing the Constitutionality of Congressional statutes in her role at OLC.

fwiw

Peace is War. Surveillance is Privacy.

if it’s worth the trouble,

remind me and the rest of your readers about your comments on the obama admin and sessions some time back – had to do with judge sotomayor maybe.

foresight in the whitehouse?

kumbaya creates such wonderful political vibes.

It won’t work if the intent is to avoid false positives but that is probably not a concern. Being able to prove in court that the IT system is the problem by the defense would call for intimate knowledge and sophisticated analysis. The prosecution rests.

Apart from that, Rahm must be getting adequately serviced, but if not from an intentionally short-staffed OLC, from whom? White House attorneys? They work for him/the president, of course, and not the AG and the public. Even if the work has been dispersed to other DOJ and White House lawyers, they would have to be following a common game plan. What personality is in charge of that?

Where does the intrepid Mr. Holder fit in and why is he not going to the mat for his department’s leadership and resources? That he accepts suspended nominations like Ms. Johnsen’s, and so many of Bush’s USA’s as his own, suggests he has his eye as much on returning to private practice as on the DoJ.

Sideways to topic – any additional votes on my long ago spec that the main reason Dawn Johnson isn’t in place yet is bc Obama doesn’t want her in place?

Do you mean O doesn’t want her in place *now*, at this particular time, or “ever”? If the latter, he should at least have a chat with her, rather than leaving her to twist slowly in the wind.

Bob in AZ