Justice drops defense of Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz

Source: Politico

Justice drops defense of Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz


By JOSH GERSTEIN | 2/22/11 5:09 PM EST

The Justice Department under President Barack Obama has quietly dropped its legal representation of more than a dozen Bush-era Pentagon and administration officials - including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and aide Paul Wolfowitz - in a lawsuit by Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla, who spent years behind bars without charges in conditions his lawyers compare to torture.

Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that the government has agreed to retain private lawyers for the officials, at a cost of up to $200 per hour. Miller said “conflicts concerns” prompted the decision. He did not elaborate.

One private attorney involved in the case, who asked not to be named, said the Obama administration apparently concluded “its duty to represent the defendants zealously, which includes the duty to argue any and all defenses, can’t be discharged for reasons of policy and other government interests.”

The Justice Department continues to represent only a single official, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in the suit.






Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49998.html#ixzz1EkXjbf1y

in writing?

if they defend torturers ...then they are complicit with the torturers

Obama and his administration are now on the firing line

by stepping back they will gain a bit of credibility
but its too bad they waited for revolutions and uprisings before they did

...for. At up to $200 an hour.

Like Gitmo, itself, or the countries render individuals to for torture, it just sidesteps the law but does not yield to it.

PB

Defending these war criminals, even if by an outsourced legal team, seems pretty backward-looking.

This is worse.

PB

He must be beet red right now. I hope he undoes all of his heart surgery.

PB

Not for the kinds of lawyers from big-name firms that they will probably want to hire.

For those type of cases and the skill required The invoices will be padded like crazy but that would have happened at 400 an hour which is more like it for such expertise. If you are bitching about the price the goverment/ taxpayers are footing on this deal, you have not hired a really skilled big city lawyer in a while....

is not much for a top lawyer. I think you meant to respond to the person I was responding to who talked about how that was a lot of taxpayer dollars.

We shouldn't be paying to defend them at all. Their Citizens United buddies should be ponying up any moneies needed.

A great deal would be if they pay for their own lawyers and end up in jail

lawyers for these scum sucking pig rat bastards at a cost of up to $200 per hour? Fuck this shit.

“conflicts concerns” ???? Yeah I see their fucking “conflict concerns”



:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

to defend torturers and people that started illegal wars??

It's a little late, but this valentine will go right to the heart of the matter.

Boo-yah!

Luv, Barack and his DOJ

employees, union members or anyone else for that matter, living wages?

What will they think of next?

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

Oh wait, did I mention?

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:
:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

needs to be CHARGING them not defending them in any capacity!!

They have the means to pay so they should pay!

Here's more budget busters which must get cut, defending war criminals!

It rankles me that we are on the hook to defend these monsters but handing them a pittance of what they need to defend themselves brings me joy.