Posted by Orin Kerr:
GOP Threat to Link Memo Release to Johnsen/Koh Filibuster?:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_05-2009_04_11.shtml#1239079665
[1]Scott Horton reports, via [2]Jack Balkin:
Senate Republicans are now privately threatening to derail the
confirmation of key Obama administration nominees for top legal
positions by linking the votes to suppressing critical torture
memos from the Bush era. A reliable Justice Department source
advises me that Senate Republicans are planning to �go nuclear�
over the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of
Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean
Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel if the torture
documents are made public. The source says these threats are the
principal reason for the Obama administration�s abrupt pullback
last week from a commitment to release some of the documents. A
Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that
Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush
administration�s darkest secrets in exchange for letting these
nominations go forward.
I don't know if this is true. But if it is, it makes me eager to see
those memos.
References
1.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-05/are-republicans-blackmailing-obama/full/
2. http://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/04/holding-koh-and-johnsen-hostage-to.html
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