Free Republic

Two weeks after a conservative group disparaged Justice Department lawyers who previously represented terror suspects, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday weighed in for the first time, calling such lawyers "patriots." “Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned,” Holder told a group of lawyers who offer "pro bono," or voluntary, legal services. "Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots." The crowd, gathered to honor Holder with an award from the Washington-based Pro...

During the Iran-Contra hearings of 1985, Americans were treated to brilliant National Security Advisor John Poindexter. Although everyone who had ever spent time with Poindexter agreed that he had a computer-like memory, he answered the same way to seemingly every question put to him by the boozy likes of Senator Ted Kennedy. "I don't recall," could have been Poindexter's nickname, and it was likely untrue. Later, in 1991 Poindexter was convicted for, among other things, obstruction of justice and perjury. Later, these convictions were overturned. At least Poindexter was a senior naval officer who was acting in the interests of...

War On Terror: The Justice Department employs nine lawyers previously involved in the defense of terrorist detainees. This is a colossal conflict of interest. Just whose side are they on? From the dropping of a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party to the decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed in a civilian court within blocks of where the World Trade Center once stood, the actions and attitudes of the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder toward the thugs and terrorists who threaten us has grown curiouser and curiouser. We may now have a clue as...

The White House wants to play Transparency Olympics with the Tea Party movement. President Obama's Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin dared Tea Party activists and conservatives last week to "push the administration to make its policies more open" and make it a "political competition … to see who can be more radical in their openness," The Hill reported. So, let's start by knocking down Attorney General Eric Holder's national security stonewall at the Department of Justice, shall we? Let the sun shine in. For more than a year, I've been writing about the looming national security and conflict-of-interest problems posed...