The White House said today that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Christopher Schroeder, a Duke University law professor, to head the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.
In his new role, Schroeder would be a leading voice on legislation related to law enforcement and the federal court system, and on nominations for the federal judiciary. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the chief policy adviser to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden.
The BLT reported April 15 that Schroeder was the leading candidate for the job.
He worked in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration, as acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel. He was also chief Democratic counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.). He served on Obama’s presidential transition team, and at Duke he has taught classes on constitutional law, environmental law, and Congress.
Schroeder (Princeton, Yale divinity, Berkeley law) is of counsel to the D.C. office of O’Melveny & Myers. In law school, he was a year ahead of Bruce Cohen, now the Democratic staff director and chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Cohen succeeded Schroeder as head of the law review.)
Mayer Brown partner Mark Gitenstein was earlier considered to head the Office of Legal Policy, but Public Citizen and other liberal groups opposed his nomination because of his work for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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