A CERTAIN LEGACY

From Medical News Today:

"Department of Justice nominee Dawn Johnsen -- President Obama's pick to head the White House Office of Legal Counsel -- is "superbly qualified and has fought for just the sort of change the office needs," a New York Times editorial says. According to the editorial, "Republican senators' harsh criticism of the nomination is groundless." The senators' "main complaint seems to be her opposition to torture and to extreme views on presidential power," it adds. Her critics also are "outraged that early in her career [she] worked for an abortion-rights advocacy group, but her views on abortion are hardly unusual," the editorial says."

Here's a bit of her background:

• Graduated Yale College summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and political science
• Member of Phi Beta Kappa
• Article and book review editor of the Yale Law Journal at Yale Law School
• Acting Assistant Attorney General (1997-1998) and Deputy Assistant Attorney General (1993-1996), U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, Washington, D.C.
• Legal Director, National Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League (currently NARAL Pro-Choice America) (1988-1993)
• Staff Counsel Fellow, American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, New York (1987-1988)
• Clerk, Hon. Richard D. Cudahy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago (1986-1987)

and a few of her selected works:

• Shared Interests: Promoting Healthy Births Without Sacrificing Women's Liberty, 43 Hastings L.J. 569 (1992)
• The Creation of Fetal Rights: Conflicts with Women's Constitutional Rights to Liberty, Privacy and Equal Protection, 95 Yale L.J. 599 (1986)

Perhaps the New York Times has it right: Her views on abortion are hardly unusual and it is not unusual at all to see the Obama administration lining it's walls with nominees and appointees that share such "usual" positions. The most "usual" comment in this editorial is the remark on the outrage that "early in her career" she worked for such groups. Yes, NYT, it is quite clear that she has moved on - as evidenced by her 2005 work Abortion: A Mixed and Uncertain Legacy, in THE REHNQUIST LEGACY (Craig Bradley, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2005).

We should expect that this nomination and possible appointment generates more appointments of individuals with similarly "usual" pasts, presents, and futures. We should expect that unlike the above title, President Obama's legacy will be certain and sure. It will be a legacy which confirmed that - for four years - abortion rights and those who believed, and still believe, that abortion is good for mothers, good for fathers, and good for all, had it's place on every wall, in every corner, and all around the President's house.