CNN.com
May 10, 2010 11:46 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- President Obama named U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan on Monday as his nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court.
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, author of "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court," talked to CNN.com about Kagan, his former law school classmate.
CNN: What is Elena Kagan's strength?
Jeffrey Toobin: Elena Kagan is known as a consensus builder. During her time as dean of Harvard Law School, she united a deeply divided faculty. Clearly, the hope from the president is that she will do for the Supreme Court what she did for the Harvard faculty, if that's possible.
CNN: You knew her at Harvard. What is she like?
Toobin: Smart, funny, self-confident, extremely intelligent but not obnoxious about it. She's always been a well-grounded person who brings out the best in others around her.
CNN: Some African-American groups and commentators have criticized her appointments at Harvard, charging that almost all of the people she hired were white and of those, only six were women. Could that be a factor in her confirmation?
Toobin: The upper reaches of the legal profession are still dominated by men, so the talent pool still skews that way. Under Kagan, the diversity of the faculty at Harvard changed, but not as fast as the rest of the country.
Full Interview: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/05/10/toobin.kagan/index.html
Showing posts with label nominations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nominations. Show all posts
Monday, May 10, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
President Is Said to Decide to Renominate Six Choices
The New York Times
January 8, 2010
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
President Obama will renominate Dawn Johnsen to lead the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel, along with his choices for five other jobs that the Senate did not act on last year, a White House official said Thursday.
Ms. Johnsen, an Indiana University law professor who served as acting head of the office in the Clinton administration, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. But the full Senate never voted on her nomination.
The Office of Legal Counsel tells the president and other executive officials whether actions would be lawful. Officials who rely on its opinions are essentially safe from prosecution.
Once obscure, the office became controversial in the Bush administration when it secretly signed off on interrogation and surveillance policies that bypassed statutory and treaty restraints, citing sweeping theories of presidential power. Ms. Johnsen was an outspoken critic of those claims.
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/us/politics/08nominate.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
January 8, 2010
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
President Obama will renominate Dawn Johnsen to lead the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel, along with his choices for five other jobs that the Senate did not act on last year, a White House official said Thursday.
Ms. Johnsen, an Indiana University law professor who served as acting head of the office in the Clinton administration, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. But the full Senate never voted on her nomination.
The Office of Legal Counsel tells the president and other executive officials whether actions would be lawful. Officials who rely on its opinions are essentially safe from prosecution.
Once obscure, the office became controversial in the Bush administration when it secretly signed off on interrogation and surveillance policies that bypassed statutory and treaty restraints, citing sweeping theories of presidential power. Ms. Johnsen was an outspoken critic of those claims.
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/us/politics/08nominate.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
Sunday, July 19, 2009
President Obama Announces Pick to Head Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The White House
Immediate Release
Immediate Release
July 16, 2009
WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Jacqueline A. Berrien as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
President Obama said, "Jacqueline Berrien has spent her entire career fighting to give voice to underrepresented communities and protect our most basic rights. Each of us deserves a fair chance to succeed in our workplace and make a contribution to this nation, and I’m confident that Jacqueline’s passion and leadership will ensure that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is living up to that mission. I look forward to undertaking this important work with Jacqueline in the months and years ahead."
President Obama said, "Jacqueline Berrien has spent her entire career fighting to give voice to underrepresented communities and protect our most basic rights. Each of us deserves a fair chance to succeed in our workplace and make a contribution to this nation, and I’m confident that Jacqueline’s passion and leadership will ensure that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is living up to that mission. I look forward to undertaking this important work with Jacqueline in the months and years ahead."
President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual today:
Jacqueline A. Berrien, Nominee for Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionMs. Berrien has served as Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) since September 2004. In that position, she assists with the direction and implementation of LDF’s national legal advocacy and scholarship programs. Ms. Berrien served from 2001 to 2004 as a Program Officer in the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program, where she administered more than $13 million of grants to promote greater political participation by underrepresented groups and remove barriers to civic engagement. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Ms. Berrien was an Assistant Counsel with LDF and directed the Fund’s voting rights and political participation work. For eight years before that, Ms. Berrien was a staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. Berrien has also taught in trial advocacy programs at Fordham and Harvard law schools and served on the adjunct faculty of New York Law School. She began her legal career clerking for the Honorable U.W. Clemon, the first African-American appointed to the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama. Ms. Berrien is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors in Government from Oberlin College and also completed a major in English.
Jacqueline A. Berrien, Nominee for Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionMs. Berrien has served as Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) since September 2004. In that position, she assists with the direction and implementation of LDF’s national legal advocacy and scholarship programs. Ms. Berrien served from 2001 to 2004 as a Program Officer in the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program, where she administered more than $13 million of grants to promote greater political participation by underrepresented groups and remove barriers to civic engagement. Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Ms. Berrien was an Assistant Counsel with LDF and directed the Fund’s voting rights and political participation work. For eight years before that, Ms. Berrien was a staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. Berrien has also taught in trial advocacy programs at Fordham and Harvard law schools and served on the adjunct faculty of New York Law School. She began her legal career clerking for the Honorable U.W. Clemon, the first African-American appointed to the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama. Ms. Berrien is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as a General Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors in Government from Oberlin College and also completed a major in English.
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