Senate OKs two aides for Justice
Attorney General Eric Holder, in office since Feb. 3, now has his top deputies in place.
WASHINGTON - The Senate yesterday began filling the Justice Department's leadership ranks, confirming David Ogden to be deputy attorney general and Thomas Perrelli for the agency's No. 3 post.
The confirmations of Ogden and Perrelli provide reinforcements for Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has run the Justice Department without the aid of other politically appointed leaders since he took office Feb. 3.
The Senate voted 65-28 to approve Ogden to be Holder's deputy, overseeing the agency's day-to-day operation. It voted 72-20 to confirm Perrelli to be associate attorney general.
Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) joined 27 Republicans in opposing Ogden, while all the opposition to Perelli came from Republicans.
Ogden, 55, overcame opposition from those who cited a Supreme Court brief he wrote on behalf of booksellers that challenged a child-pornography statute. Opponents also cited a legal brief he wrote challenging a requirement that pregnant 14-year-old girls notify their parents before obtaining abortions.
'Shocking'
In floor debate, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R., Okla.) said Ogden's "extensive record in representing the pornography industry is especially shocking" because the Justice Department enforces obscenity and child-pornography laws. Groups opposing Ogden cited his work challenging censorship restrictions against Playboy Enterprises Inc. and obscenity prosecutions of PHE. Inc., a distributor of X-rated videos.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, denounced the "attacks from extremists" who oppose Ogden by "mischaracterizing a narrow sliver of his diverse practice as a litigator." Fidelis, a group affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, and several other conservative organizations opposed Ogden's nomination.
Leahy said that no Republicans had opposed Michael B. Mukasey's nomination to be President George W. Bush's third attorney general, even though he represented a dial-a-porn service in an obscenity case. "For nominees of Republicans, Republicans demand that clients not be held against them," Leahy said. "Suddenly, Republicans don't want that rule anymore."
A third nominee
Ogden and Perrelli are veterans of the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton. Ogden ran the civil division and also served as counselor and chief of staff to Attorney General Janet Reno. He also served as deputy general counsel at the Defense Department. Perrelli was also a counsel to Reno as well as an associate deputy attorney general.
The Senate has yet to confirm President Obama's other nominees to run the department. Republicans said they still had questions about some, including Dawn Johnsen, a former abortion-rights lawyer nominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel.
Johnsen, who was legal director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, was asked about a brief she filed in an abortion case in which she compared a pregnancy required by abortion restrictions to involuntary servitude. Johnsen said she was merely making an analogy to illustrate a legal point, not equating pregnancy under those circumstances to slavery.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, said yesterday the case records and a footnote "suggest the contrary." He postponed the panel's vote on her nomination for a week.