Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. swore in his No. 2 and No. 3 deputies today, filling a leadership void in the Justice Department as it moves forward with its work on range of sensitive issues, from Guantanamo Bay to a wholesale review of the of the nation’s detention and interrogation practices.
Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, whom the Senate confirmed Thursday by broad margins, appeared eager to begin work -- and Holder, as eager to have them begin it.
“You don’t know how good this feels,” said Holder, flanked by Ogden by Perrelli in the attorney general's conference room.
He called Ogden and Perrelli “my right arm and my left arm” and spoke of the challenges the three would confront together. “There’s an awful lot of work we have to do. There are things, quite frankly, that we have to reverse, policy changes we have to make,” Holder said.
Ogden, 55, who left a partnership at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, will be responsible for the department’s day-to-day operations. Conservative groups bore down on his nomination for the obscenity-related First Amendment work he did as a young lawyer. He represented librarians, booksellers, and Playboy magazine, among others.
His confirmation was never in serious doubt, but Republicans delayed a vote by several days, as the parties clashed over guidelines for floor debate. Holder personally thanked David Margolis, the veteran associate deputy attorney general, for his leadership in the office while Ogden’s nomination was pending.
Ogden noted that portions of the nomination process were “somewhat more partisan” than he would have liked, but he said he took away from the experience an appreciation for the common interest in the department’s best traditions, regardless of party affiliation.
Perrelli who turned 43 yesterday, was Jenner & Block’s managing partner of firm’s D.C. office. “I am completely humbled to serve with people of such talent and integrity,” Perrelli said. He praised the department’s career ranks, noting that his father, Thomas N. Perrelli, was a career professional at the department until his death in 2002.
Both Ogden and Perrelli kept their remarks short. “There’s much to be done, and it’s time to get to work,” Perrelli said.
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