The full Senate has begun its debate on the nomination of David Ogden to be deputy attorney general.
"The Justice Department is without a confirmed Deputy at a time when we face great threats and challenges," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in prepared remarks for the Senate floor. "Indeed," he added, "one of the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission was that after presidential transitions, nominations for national security appointments, like Mr. Ogden’s, be accelerated."
President Barack Obama designated Ogden, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, to be the No. 2 official at the Department of Justice more than two months ago. His nomination has stalled in the face of opposition from social conservatives, but the Judiciary Committee endorsed him 14-5 and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moved Monday to limit debate in the full Senate.
The debate is scheduled to last through 4:30 p.m., depending on the availability and interest of senators. Leahy and Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) led off the debate. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who voted in favor of Ogden in the Judiciary Committee, praised his qualifications while also noting the objections of anti-abortion groups and others.
Conservative opposition has focused on Ogden's representation of clients, from Playboy magazine to librarians' associations, in First Amendment cases involving pornography, though he has worked for a wide variety of clients. During the Clinton administration, Ogden held several positions at the Justice Department, including head of the Civil Division, and prior to that, he worked at Jenner & Block.
A vote on the nomination is not expected until Thursday, a Reid spokesman says.
Specter, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, also said that he has a meeting scheduled for Thursday with Elena Kagan, nominee for solicitor general and dean of Harvard Law School. Specter has said he is not satisfied with some of Kagan's answers to his questions.
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