Thread: Obama nominates Tony West for Asst. A.G. (Civil Div.)

"If confirmed by the Senate, West would head the division that represents the government in a broad range of noncriminal cases, from contract disputes to immigration and national security."

Obama nominates S.F. lawyer for Asst. Attorney General (Civil Div.)

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Tony West, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer whose clients have ranged from corporate giants to "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, has been nominated by President Obama as an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Division.



West, 43, an Oakland resident, met Obama in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention and was one of his finance co-chairs in California last year, when the campaign raised a record $65 million in the state.

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, West worked as a Justice Department attorney under President Bill Clinton, a federal prosecutor in San Francisco and an assistant state attorney general before becoming a litigator at San Francisco's Morrison & Foerster in 2001.

While representing companies in civil and criminal cases, he has also served as a lawyer for Mark Klein, the former AT&T technician who testified that the telecommunications company was sharing customers' phone calls and e-mails with federal agents in the Bush administration's electronic surveillance program.

West was co-counsel for former Oakland Raiders receiver Marcus Williams, who in 2005 won $340,000 in damages from ex-teammate Bill Romanowski for punching him during practice.

He also took part in the defense of Lindh, the Marin County man who was a 20-year-old Taliban soldier in Afghanistan when he was captured in November 2001. Lindh pleaded guilty in 2002 to serving in the Taliban army and carrying weapons and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

West, who ran unsuccessfully for a state Assembly seat in San Jose in 2000, has acknowledged that the Lindh case dampened his political prospects, but said it was the kind of work he believed in.

"I really believe that in working on that case, I was recommitting myself to those principles of due process, fairness - things that separate us from most nations in the world," he told The Chronicle in an interview last year.

West's wife, Maya Harris, is a former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California who recently took a job with the Ford Foundation. His sister-in-law is San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

If confirmed by the Senate, West would head the division that represents the government in a broad range of noncriminal cases, from contract disputes to immigration and national security.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

Does the "noncriminal" classification of the Civil Division of the DOJ mean that it does not prosecute crimes of illegal entry, workplace violations, identity theft of SSN's, voter fraud, I-9 misrepresentation, and other offenses under the U.S. immigration laws, 8 USC ¶ 12 § 1156 - § 1531?

Code:

West's wife, Maya Harris, is a former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California who recently took a job with the Ford Foundation. His sister-in-law is San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

I am sure he carries a "card" also.

He cares for others than Americans and the "no" rule of law.