Holder Urges Senate to Move Dawn Johnsen’s Nomination

Holder Urges Senate to Move Johnsen’s Nomination

By Joe Palazzolo | October 6, 2009


Attorney General Eric Holder today said he expected the long-stalled nominee to head the department’s Office of Legal Counsel to be confirmed.

President Barack Obama nominated Dawn Johnsen in February. She was reported out of the Judiciary committee in March. But Senate Republicans have pinned down her nomination, citing her vocal criticism of the Bush administration’s national security policies and her past work for the group formerly known as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. She is also a strong bargaining chip for a Republican party striving to gain leverage in Congress.

In a discussion with reporters at the Department of Justice, Holder said Johnsen had been in limbo for “far too long.”

“I expect that Dawn Johnsen will be confirmed,” Holder said. “Her nomination has been pending, from my own parochial interest, for far too long. I’d like to have her here on the fifth floor with me and running the Office of Legal Counsel.”

Recently, women’s advocacy groups pressured Maine’s GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe to support Johnsen. For months, Collins and Snowe have refused to state their position her nomination.

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http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/10/06/holder-urges-senate-to-move-johnsens-nomination/