Scholars Urge Confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to OLC

Scholars Urge Confirmation of Johnsen to OLC

Updated 5:25 p.m.
By Carrie Johnson


A bipartisan coalition of scholars this afternoon pressed the Senate to move ahead with a vote on the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to lead a critical Justice Department unit that provided a rationale for waterboarding and other harsh interrogation practices during the Bush years.

Johnsen won a party line 11 to 7 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. But while other department nominees easily advanced to the full Senate, her bid to lead the Office of Legal Counsel has languished.

The debate, unusual for an executive branch nomination below the Cabinet level, only intensified over the past week as critics on both the left and the right challenged President Obama for his handling of Bush OLC memos blessing harsh detainee interrogation tactics, such as sleep- and food deprivation or slamming a prisoner against a wall.

Obama publicly released the documents but has refused to endorse the possible criminal prosecution of members of the Bush administration and frowned upon the idea of a congressional investigation into the detainee practices.

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