Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Discouraging Detainee Defense:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_01_07-2007_01_13.shtml#1168720349
Paul Horwitz notes that the issue of which law firms are defending
detainees also made it into a Wall Street Journal [1]column by Robert
Pollock on "The Gitmo High Life." The bulk of the column discusses the
relatively comfortable treatment at least many of the Guantanamo
detainees receive. Yet the article also picks up on the suggestion of
an "administration official" that law firm representation of detainees
should be a "scandal."
Guantanamo detainees don't lack for legal representation. A list of
lead counsel released this week in response to a Freedom of
Information Act request reads like a who's who of America's most
prestigious law firms: Shearman and Sterling; Wilmer Cutler
Pickering Hale & Dorr; Covington & Burling; Hunton & Williams;
Sullivan & Cromwell; Debevoise & Plimpton; Cleary Gottlieb; and
Blank Rome are among the marquee names.
A senior U.S. official I spoke to speculates that this information
might cause something of scandal, since so much of the pro bono
work being done to tilt the playing field in favor of al Qaeda
appears to be subsidized by legal fees from the Fortune 500.
"Corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between
lucrative retainers and representing terrorists" who deliberately
target the U.S. economy, he opined.
This article should remove any doubt about the meaning of Cully
Stimson's remarks and make absolutely clear that at least some within
the administration are encouraging corporations to pressure law firms
not to represent detainees.
[2]This audio segment from NPR ([3]LvHB) is also worth a listen.
References
1.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116857309913174829.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
2.
http://www.npr.org/templates/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=WESAT&showDate=13-Jan-2007&segNum=4&mediaPref=RM
3. http://howappealing.law.com/011307.html#021218
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