Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense of Detainee Affairs Curtis Stimson's comments urging corporate America to punish law firms that defend Gitmo detainees are causing the legal community to come together in a rare display of near-universal condemnation. Here's a letter signed by over 50 law school deans around the country objecting to Stimson's statements:
As law deans and professors, we find Secretary Stimson's statement to be contrary to basic tenets of American law. We teach our students that lawyers have a professional obligation to ensure that even the most despised and unpopular individuals and groups receive zealous and effective legal representation. Our American legal tradition has honored lawyers who, despite their personal beliefs, have zealously represented mass murderers, suspected terrorists, and Nazi marchers. At this moment in time, when our courts have endorsed the right of the Guantanamo detainees to be heard in courts of law, it is critical that qualified lawyers provide effective representation to these individuals. By doing so, these lawyers protect not only the rights of the detainees, but also our shared constitutional principles. In a free and democratic society, government officials should not encourage intimidation of or retaliation against lawyers who are fulfilling their pro bono obligations.
Hear, hear. They are urging the administration to "promptly and unequivocally repudiate" Stimson's statements; I don't think that goes near far enough. Stimson should not only be fired from his position, he should be brought before the ABA's board of ethics for his clear misconduct. His statements are nothing less than an attempt to intimidate law firms into not representing clients; it is the equivalent of the mafia intimidating witnesses. Both actions compromise the integrity of the legal process and both should be seriously punished. Jonathan Adler sums up the ethical breach pretty well:
It is well established that prosecutors have greater ethical obligation than private attorneys and, in particular, have an obligation to ensure the fairness of judicial proceedings - even where this may undermine the government's ability to secure a conviction. Stimson is not a prosecutor in his current position, but he is a former JAG and U.S. attorney, so he knows the rules. More important in this instance, he is an official involved with the detention and prosecution of detainees. He is, after all, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense of Detainee Affairs. Insofar as detainees are entitled to judicial process, whether habeas proceedings to challenge their detention or trials for alleged violations of the law of war, they are entitled to the defense counsel of their choice, not the government's. Deliberate action by a government attorney to interfere with that choice is unethical, and contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the relevant rules of legal ethics.
Comments
If Stimson had been around in 1770, he would have villified John Adams for having the temerity to defend the British solders following the Boston Massacre. As it was, Adams risked quite a bit by defending the British, despite the fact that he had prevailed in court.
The more that I read of what comes out of the Bushies' mouths, the more that I despair, not only of American democracy--such as it is--but also of American rule of law.
The sad fact is that, after Stimson is cashiered--either because he resigns or is forced to resign, or after a Democrat takes over in 2009, Stimson will land himself a nice gig at a right-wing "think tank." These people are disgusting.
Posted by: raj | January 16, 2007 12:31 PM
Charles Fried, law prof at Harvard and Solicitor General for the second Reagan term, wrote a column in today's WSJ taking Stimson to the woodshed for his remarks.
Posted by: Keanus | January 16, 2007 10:19 PM
When are the democrats going to end the war?
Posted by: Bailey | January 17, 2007 5:51 AM
Stimson has resigned.
Posted by: Jim Lippard | February 2, 2007 4:49 PM