Boomerang Effect
Published on 13 Jan 2007 at 4:34 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under Politics, Etcetera, etcetera.
The latest—and most pathetic—attempt by the Bush Administration to deflect attention from its systematic deconstruction of the Constitution is the attack by Department of Defense official Charles “Cully” Stimson on law firms representing the Guantanamo detainees.
An article in Jurist on Friday reported that:
Stimson predicted that “when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line in 2001 those CEO’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.” The former Navy lawyer said “It’s shocking…The major law firms in this country…are out there representing detainees.”
Predictably, the law firms came back fighting. One lawyer said:
Apparently, the Bush Administration has no good answers to the legal and moral travesties at Guantanamo, so they have decided to fall back on good old-fashioned lawyer bashing in a desperate effort to change the subject. It is bad enough that they have consistently flouted the Supreme Court’s 2004 ruling that the detainees are entitled to habeas corpus. Now they are attempting to prevent the detainees from having legal counsel at all. It is truly incredible that Stimson, an attorney himself, does not appear to understand or care about the fundamental obligation of lawyers to represent unpopular and indigent clients.
We and the other habeas counsel are very proud of the work we are doing on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees, and we are confident that the vast majority of our corporate clients feel the same way. The true “news story” here is not that prominent law firms are trying to get the detainees a fair hearing but that the Bush Administration is trying to deny them one.
What the Bush Administration apparently didn’t anticipate is that there is suddenly a certain cachet to this pro bono work. Word has it that several large firms not mentioned in the story are letting it be known that they, too, are representing detainees.
Overnight, a Guantanamo defendant has become the chic new law firm accessory, like an adopted baby in Hollywood.
Well played, George.
Buff.
Linda on 15 Jan 2007 at 10:49 am: 1
Lawyer bashing has long been a favorite sport of the Bush administration and Republicans - at least until our services are needed. Trent Lott hired a first rate trial lawyer to represent him when his insurance company refused to pay up.
This attack, however, highlights just how contemptuous this administration is of the legal foundation on which this country was built. I hope we have a democracy left by the time Bush leaves office in 2008.
Buff on 15 Jan 2007 at 10:58 am: 2
I agree. The Administration seems to view the constitutional requirement of a search warrant as a fly, to be swatted aside as an annoyance. I’m shocked that the courts have not responded with more alacrity to this direct assault on the constitutional balance of power.