This morning, I noted that the January 21 filing supporting Bush’s crazy notions about email might well be the work of Dead-Enders. We know Dead-Enders submitted a brief in another suit naming the President as defendant during the week of the inauguration. And DOJ has added a new lawyer to the team, suggesting it intends to continue the litigation.
From CREW, one of the plaintiffs in the email suit, we’ve got confirmation that the Obama White House intends to continue the litigation.
Recognizing the incoming Obama administration may not have had an opportunity to fully evaluate the merits of the motion to dismiss, even though it was filed on behalf of the Executive Office of the President, one of the named defendants, on January 21, we waited several weeks before reaching out to the White House to suggest they consider withdrawing their motion. The response from the White House, on the afternoon of February 20 (the day our brief was due) was that we should go ahead and file. Thus, at least at this point, the new administration has indicated quite clearly it plans to continue litigating this issue.
The lack of confirmed appointees at the Justice Department does not suggest this is an interim position, given that the White House is the defendant here with a fully-staffed White House Counsel’s Office. As for the change in DOJ counsel, it is simply the result of the trial attorney previously assigned to the case departing DOJ for a detail (in the White House Counsel’s Office).
The CREW argument that this is not an interim position doesn’t hold much weight, given the al-Haramain example (the President is also the defendant in that suit and their stance has changed since the January 22 filing).
But, for the moment, it does say that Greg Craig is not only continuing Bush’s legislation, but he’s hiring one of the DOJ Dead-Enders that got us to this point. We’re not going to get very far if Greg Craig sees fit to hire the Dead-Enders into the White House.