Amy K. Matsui, Senior Counsel and Director of Women and the Courts

by Amy Matsui, Senior Counsel, 
National Women's Law Center

by Amy Matsui, Senior Counsel, 
National Women's Law Center 

Last January, President-elect Obama announced his intent to nominate Dawn Johnsen to lead the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the United States Department of Justice. The nomination was made in February, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination in March. But for months, Dawn Johnsen’s nomination, along with a number of others, was subjected to endless delays and filibuster threats. Before you knew it, 2009 was over and Dawn Johnsen had not gotten a vote. What is more, because Republicans refused to waive a procedural rule, her nomination lapsed. 

Johnsen, a professor of law at the University of Indiana, is eminently qualified for this important position. She worked in the OLC for five years during the Clinton Administration, including as acting head of the office. She has written extensively about OLC’s critical role of offering impartial and objective legal advice to the President and the executive agencies. She has repeatedly expressed her commitment to fulfilling OLC’s responsibility and to the rule of law. She has the support of Democrats and Republicans alike, including her home-state senator, Senator Richard Lugar.