The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Obama Nominates Three for Judgeships, Including Two in D.C.

President Barack Obama nominated three people today to fill two judgeships in Washington and one in New York.

Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to become a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She has been vice chair and commissioner of the U.S. Sentencing Commission since 2010, and has previously worked at Morrison & Foerster from 2007 to 2010 and as an assistant federal public defender in the district from 2005 to 2007.

Nelson Román was nominated to become a judge in the Southern District of New York. Román, an associate justice of the First Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court since 2009, has also been a judge inBronx County for six years and a judge on the New York City Civil Court for a year.

New Website Shows 'Collateral Consequences' of Criminal Convictions

The American Bar Association and a Justice Department unit have launched a new website that allows users to search federal and state laws that hinder people with criminal records from being able to do basic things — like finding work and obtaining housing — to be able to reenter society successfully.

During remarks at the site's launch yesterday on Capitol Hill, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) noted how vital it is to understand what these "collateral consequences" can mean for those who have been convicted of crimes.

"Somebody may lose their right to vote, they may lose their right to hold certain licenses to practice a profession, sometimes even lose the right of where they can live," Leahy said.

DOJ Inspector General Defends Fast and Furious Report

The Inspector General for the Department of Justice defended his finding on Capitol Hill Thursday that senior officials of the department had limited knowledge of the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking sting, but should have asked more questions about the investigation.

In his first testimony before Congress since being confirmed in March, IG Michael Horowitz fielded a barrage of questions from members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"We concluded that both Operation Wide Receiver and Operation Fast and Furious were seriously flawed and supervised irresponsibly by ATF's Phoenix Field Division and the U.S. attorney's office, most significantly in their failure to adequately consider the risk to the public safety in the United States and Mexico," Horowitz said in his opening statement. "This failure reflected a significant lack of oversight and urgency by both ATF and the U.S. attorney's office, and a disregard by both for the safety of individuals in the United States and Mexico."

D.C. Circuit Questions Secrecy Over Drones in Records Dispute

The U.S. Justice Department today in a federal appeals court in Washington continued to press the government's claim that it has not officially acknowledged any CIA role in the use of drones to target and kill suspected terrorists abroad.

A top Justice lawyer, Stuart Delery, the acting head of the department's Civil Division, told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it should uphold the dismissal of a suit that seeks records about drones and targeted killing of alleged terrorists. A trial judge in Washington earlier ruled against the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to access records about drones. The CIA has refused to confirm or deny the existence of any documents about drones.

Delery today disputed the notion that statements about drones by President Barack Obama and former CIA Director Leon Panetta amount to anything more than "ambiguous" remarks about the effort to fight terrorism. Statements from the president and Panetta, now the Defense Department secretary, are not "official acknowledgement" that the CIA has participated in drone strikes, Delery argued.

Judge Merrick Garland, who heard the case with judges David Tatel and Thomas Griffith, appeared the most skeptical of the government's position. Garland questioned Delery about whether disclosure of information about drones—for instance, any collateral damage assessment—would harm the national security. Likening the CIA to an "emperor," Garland said DOJ wants the appeals court to find the agency has clothes "even when the emperor's bosses say it doesn't."

After Secret Meeting, Senate Committee Approves DOJ Nominee

Updated 1:45 p.m.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the nomination of William Baer to lead the Justice Department's Antitrust Division on a 12-5 vote.

The opposition from some Republicans came less than two months after a hearing in which Baer, who heads Arnold & Porter's antitrust practice in Washington, received a warm reception from senators of both parties.

Earlier this week, however, a spokeswoman for Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said some Republicans "have concerns with issues that were brought forward in the standard background investigation," and that they may hold a secret meeting to discuss their concerns.

Netflix Lobby Shop Founder Moves to Patton Boggs

Patton Boggs has signed up the founder of the lobby shop at Netflix Inc. for its technology and communications practice, the law firm announced on Wednesday.

Michael Drobac, who opened Netflix's Washington office in 2010 and was its first director, joined the law firm as a senior policy adviser. Drobac, a lawyer, came to Patton after assisting with the creation of a yet-to-be-launched website that is intended to connect individuals with health resources in their communities. He started working on the website in January, following his departure from Netflix.

Drobac said Patton presented him with a "wonderful opportunity," which the lobbyist said he couldn't pass up.

The Morning Wrap

Fast & Furious: An internal Department of Justice review criticized top officials, but not Eric Holder, for the botched Operation Fast and Furious. Our own Todd Ruger and Mike Scarcella report.

Libya: U.S. and Libyan officials paint an entirely different picture regarding the attack on the U.S. embassy that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three Americans. The U.S. describes it as local extremists who saw an opportunity to hijack the protests, while the Libyans portray it as a premeditated attack by foreign fighters with ties to al-Qaeda. NPR reports.

Voter Purge: A Texas state judge barred state officials from ordering county officials to purge voters who are assumed dead because it may violate the election code, Bloomberg reports.

Baseball: The Washington Nationals are one win away from a playoff berth after last night's double headers split against the Dodgers. If the Nats make the playoffs, it will be the first Washington baseball team to earn a spot in 79 years. The Washington Post reports.

DOJ Review Knocks Senior Officials—But Not Holder—Over Fast and Furious

An internal Justice Department review released today criticizes senior DOJ officials for their roles in the failed Operation Fast and Furious gun-smuggling program, but clears Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. of personal knowledge about the two major accusations from congressional Republicans.

The 471-page report from the DOJ inspector general's office, released this afternoon, presents a comprehensive review of Operation Fast and Furious and will be the subject of a hearing Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz will testify about the review, in which his office looked at more than 100,000 documents and interviewed more than 130 witnesses, including Holder, Deputy Attorney General James Cole and assistant attorneys general Lanny Breuer of the Criminal Division and Ronald Weich of the legislative affairs office.

Cooley Adds Business Partner to Reston, Va. Office

Cooley has added a lateral attorney its business department in the firm's Reston, Va. office.

Geoff Willard, formerly a partner and chair of the corporate, securities and mergers and acquisitions group at VLP Law Group, joins Cooley as a partner. Before VLP, Willard was a partner in the corporate, mergers and acquisition and emerging companies practice at DLA Piper.

Willard focuses his representation on matters related to mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financing, joint ventures and strategic alliances. In an interview, Willard said that he will likely continue to represent many of the same types of high-growth companies he did in the past.

Survey Finds Widespread Doubt About Fairness of Civil Courts

Updated 3:44 p.m.

In a new survey conducted by a leading group of defense attorneys and in-house counsel, more than four out of 10 respondents said they doubted the fairness of civil courts.

All in all, 41 percent of those polled said they harbored such doubts. Just 9 percent said they were very confident that civil court results were "just and fair" — and 16 percent said they had no confidence the results were fair.

Respondents also concluded that they would much rather have their cases heard by juries than judges.

According to the poll, released September 12 by DRI—The Voice of the Defense Bar, even though people view judges as being fairer than juries, 64 percent said they would prefer a jury trial to a bench trial.