Political Résumé, Not Court, Stood Out for a Contender(Rachel Brand)

Source: NYT:


When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., left, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the confirmation process, Rachel L. Brand, third from left and next to Jane Roberts, was among his advisers.



WASHINGTON, April 13 — Rachel L. Brand, by her own admission, has never prosecuted so much as a traffic case. But in January 2006, when Justice Department officials began to discuss removing some United States attorneys, Ms. Brand was proposed as the top federal prosecutor in the Western District of Michigan, an e-mail message released on Friday shows.

In the end, Ms. Brand, who heads the Office of Legal Policy in the department, decided that she did not want the position and was not nominated to succeed Margaret M. Chiara, then the top prosecutor for the district. Ms. Chiara was later ousted.

The four other people proposed in the message as successors to other United States attorneys had greater experience. But it was notable that Ms. Brand, a 33-year-old cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, was recommended by D. Kyle Sampson, then chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

In many ways, Ms. Brand represents young lawyers with conservative pedigrees and proven loyalty who have flourished in this administration. She was active in the Federalist Society, an association of conservative lawyers that is a talent pool for those interested in appointments in Republican administrations.

At the Justice Department, she gave speeches defending the USA Patriot Act and was assigned to shepherd the Supreme Court nominations of John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. through Senate confirmation. She had the same role for Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, until Ms. Miers’s nomination was withdrawn.

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/washington/14replace.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin