Kmiec Chosen for Ambassador to Malta

Douglas Kmiec, the conservative Pepperdine University law professor and prominent supporter of President Barack Obama, is likely headed to the Mediterranean.

The White House said today that Obama has chosen Kmiec as the new ambassador to Malta, the archipelago nation south of Italy. Though originally a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, Kmiec has been a high-profile defender of the Obama administration and its personnel choices. He recently has come to the defense of Dawn Johnsen, nominated to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, even as Republicans have held up Johnsen’s nomination because of her views on abortion and national security.

Kmiec was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan administration. At the end of his second term, Reagan appointed Kmiec to lead the office, which advises the executive branch on the legality of a wide variety of policies. Kmiec was dean of Catholic University’s law school from 2001 to 2003, and he was a longtime professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school.

The White House notes that he has some experience working abroad: Kmiec was a Fulbright Fellow in Asia in 1987, lecturing in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

Ambassadorships require Senate confirmation.

Comments

[Andy]

Calling the comments "amusing" is an understatement. He worked for Reagan and Bush. He's a professor at a conservative law school. His writings are conservative (see his bio at the law school web site and read some). He is pro life. He did support Obama and has explained at length why. You may disagree, but that fact doesn't turn him into a liberal. The idea that he did this in order to be appointed ambassador to Malta (when he already works in Malibu!) is just nutty. With his background, he would have been better off job-wise with a Republican president.

[Joe]

Some of these comments are amusing. He is Catholic and wrote extensively discussing why voting for Obama promoted Catholic ends. He has a Republican background, including working for Republican administrations.

[bea ferreira]

This is consistent with Obama's in your face politics that does not consider people's fundamental right to a representative that would be close to Malta's very Catholic population.

[An Old Judge]

"Conservative"? That is an assertion unsupported by any factual evidence. Would you be willing to articulate why you think he is conservative?

[jerry]

great post

[Fenton]

Wow.

His soul for Malta.

What a deal.

Lawyers are so smart, especially those who pretend to be Catholic.