Little known liberal legal group comes to the fore
Liberal legal group comes to the fore
By LISA LERER | 12/28/08 10:33 PM EST Text Size:
Sixteen appointees and advisers helping Obama's Justice Department transition efforts all recently sat on the board of a little-known organization.
Photo: AP
Sixteen appointees and advisers helping president-elect Barack Obama's Justice Department transition efforts all recently sat on the board of an organization little known outside legal circles: The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
The liberal legal network, which blossomed during eight years of Democratic exile, counts as its veterans Obama’s attorney general nominee Eric Holder, Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff Ron Klain, and future White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown.
Seven other recent board members are advising the incoming administration on legal, education, and labor-related issues. Theresa Wynn Roseborough is rumored to be a top candidate for solicitor general. And, at least two other members were also rumored to be in the running for key cabinet posts.
The ACS links also reach far into Obama’s past legal career. Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe, a member of the ACS Board of Advisors, taught Obama constitutional law and later advised his campaign on legal issues. Geoffrey Stone hired the president-elect for his first teaching post at the University of Chicago law school. And Abner Mikva, who first met Obama at the University of Chicago, was a political mentor during the president-elect’s failed bid for Congress in 2000.
“It’s a natural thing to see that the administration would tap people who are aligned in some sense with this vision,â€
