Dream teams
“Within the ranks of our leading law schools, law firms and legal centers, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world’s most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams,” Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn writes.
“In this context, wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear the dean of some Ivy League law school, or a partner in a white-shoe law firm, stand up and say these words: ’As part of our pro bono commitments, we hereby offer our services to the overworked men and women trying to keep our nation safe from terrorist attack.’
“You can imagine the reaction. Back in 2007, we had a taste when a Defense Department official suggested that corporate America might look askance at the high-priced law firms devoting their time and talents to those held at Gitmo. In accord with long-established Beltway rituals of public penance, this official soon published ’An Apology to Detainees’ Attorneys’ in The Washington Post - and soon after resigned. Notwithstanding what this outcome said about the real balance of power, the incident only confirmed the lawyers’ view of themselves as lonely Davids taking on Goliath.
“Well, maybe not as lonely as they like to make out. In the popular mind, the 200 or so Guantanamo detainees filing for habeas corpus in federal district courts are up against the full powers of the United States government. And they are. But practically speaking, this means that 60 or so Justice Department lawyers are handling the bulk of that legal load.
“Against these 60 attorneys are arrayed some of our nation’s most prestigious private firms. Last year, at a dinner at Washington’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, the National Legal Aide Defender Association bestowed its ’Beacon of Justice Award’ on 50 law firms for their pro bono work on behalf of the detainees. These firms included WilmerHale; Jenner & Block; Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan; Paul Weiss Rifkin; Mayer Brown; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Dechert; Pepper Hamilton; Venable; Perkins Coie; Hunton & Williams; and Fulbright Jaworski. These firms in turn are joined by law professors from Stanford, Yale and Northwestern right on down to Fordham.”
Media ’hero’
“Usually rude protesters who disrupt events by throwing objects at state leaders don’t earn media celebrations, but instead of being embarrassed by their Iraqi media colleague who, as he spewed venomous hatreds, dangerously threw his shoes at President Bush on Sunday in Baghdad, ABC and CBS on Monday night championed his popularity amongst Iraqis,” the Media Research Center’s Brent Baker writes at www.mrc.org.
“ABC put ’Folk Hero?’ on screen as fill-in anchor Elizabeth Vargas trumpeted how [Muntadhar al-Zeidi] has ’become an instant celebrity to many of his countrymen’ while CBS anchor >Katie Couric hailed how ’many Iraqis are calling him a hero’ before reporter Elizabeth Palmer snidely concluded: ’[He] should do jail time, said the Iraqi bloggers, because he missed.’
“From London, ABC’s Jim Sciutto maintained: ’Shoes have become a new symbol of anti-Americanism in the Arab world. And the Iraqi reporter who threw them, [Muntadhar al-Zeidi], a folk hero.’ Sciutto touted how “more than 100 lawyers volunteered to defend him. It was a heroic way to say goodbye to Bush, said one Iraqi.’
“Though Sciutto at least noted how ’some Iraqis are embarrassed,’ he countered: ’Still, in news coverage, on new fan Web sites, in Arabic text messages, the overwhelming sentiment: giddy satisfaction.’
“CBS’ Palmer, also from afar in London, asserted ’[He’s] become an instant hero. Today, thousands demonstrated for his release.’ ”
About that scandal
“Barack Obama is experiencing the first ’scandal’ of his presidency before he’s taken office - or so sayeth the media,” New York Post columnist Kirsten Powers writes.
“Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of (among much else) conspiring to sell or trade Obama’s Senate seat for personal benefit. Obama is accused of … well, nothing. In fact, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said specifically that the president-elect is not under investigation or accused of any wrongdoing,” the columnist noted.
“Heck, an Obama staffer is on tape offering the furious Blago no more than ’appreciation’ for giving the seat to Obama’s preferred candidate.
“Yet we have a media feeding frenzy, with ’scandal’ attached to nonscandalous behavior.
“How did this happen?
“Team Obama’s response has made what should have been a one-day story into a full-blown P.R. crisis. So far, it seems to have adopted the early Clinton-administration approach - turn a minor problem into a big one by mismanaging the media.”
He can play ball
Steven D. Levitt, writing in the Freakonomics blog at Nytimes.com, praised the selection of Arne Duncan as the next secretary of education.
“Freakonomics readers will remember Arne as the hero of our chapter on teacher cheating. He was head of the Chicago Public Schools when Brian Jacob and I were investigating how teachers and administrators were doctoring standardized test sheets,” Mr. Levitt said.
“With seemingly nothing to gain and much to lose, Arne embraced our results, even allowing us to do audit testing to confirm our hypotheses. Eventually, a handful of teachers were fired.
“Since then, I’ve interacted with Arne a few times, and in a variety of settings. I always walk away dazzled. He is smart … and his commitment to the kids is remarkable. If you wanted to start from scratch and build a public servant, Arne would be the end product.
“About five years ago, I joked with him that he was not even 40 years old and he had the second-best job in education. He had nowhere to go but down, since the only better job would be secretary of education.
“For all his accomplishments improving schools, perhaps even more remarkable are his accomplishments on the basketball court: He and his buddies have won the national Hoop It Up Three-On-Three basketball championship on multiple occasions.”
• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or e-mail Greg Pierce.
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