Speculation has swirled over the future of White House Counsel Greg Craig for weeks. Now, it appears, the speculation is over. Both the Washington Post and Associated Press report that Craig will announce he is leaving the administration tomorrow. The new White House Counsel? Bob Bauer. More from Marc Ambinder here.
UPDATE: It’s official. One question is how Craig’s departure will affect judicial nominations. As I’ve discussed before, the Obama Administration has been quite slow to nominate federal judges. One reason for this could be a bottleneck within the White House Counsel’s office, which has been involved in many issues historically handled by attorneys in various cabinet agencies. If this is the cause, Craig’s departure may be less significant than the eventual confirmation of Christopher Schroeder to head the Office of Legal Policy. (Speaking of which, what’s up with that? Why is that confirmation taking so long?)
Richard Riley says:
Interesting. Bob Bauer is an election lawyer — i.e., a technical election-law expert, dealing with FEC law and the like. His firm’s (PerkinsCoie’s) FEC law practice is very prominent. There have been plenty of politically savvy lawyers in the White House counsel’s job, but I am not sure a real election-law expert has ever been White House counsel. Wonder how that may play out?
Quote
November 13, 2009, 9:16 amCDU says:
Yeah, but Jack Bauer would be an even more interesting choice.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 9:44 amJon Rowe says:
The dude has two first names. If my last name were “Craig,” the 2nd to last choice I would name my son would be “Greg.” The LAST choice I would name my son would be “Craig.” As in “Craig Craig.”
Quote
November 13, 2009, 9:56 amTamerlane says:
Maybe Obama really is worried about his birth certificate ;-)
Quote
November 13, 2009, 10:02 amjackson says:
More interesting is Bauer’s style: he can be extremely aggressive, at times to the point of bullying. He pushed the limits during the presidential campaign. He may succeed in cracking agency heads and centralizing control in the White House, but a broader decision-making base is more likely to keep the White House out of trouble.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 10:53 amPubliusFL says:
Or Gary Bauer. At least Gary’s a lawyer!
Quote
November 13, 2009, 10:53 amNew Pseudonym says:
But Hank Bauer would knock it out of the park.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 11:26 amHouston Lawyer says:
One criticism I had of the Bush Administration was that they kept people around long after they had started to become a liability. No such problem in this administration. In fact, the only decisions that they seem capable of making are decisions to sack the latest embarrassment.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 12:01 pmJoe says:
Dawn Johnsen Watch continues.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 12:29 pm» "Bob Bauer To Be White House Counsel; Greg Craig To Depart" and related posts Www.composition4u.info says:
[...] Is the Greg Craig Watch Over? - The Volokh Conspiracy [...]
afr114 says:
You know the nomination process is taking so long because you have to vet everyone so much these days. For many nominations, Republicans are putting a hold on the nominee.
It all politics.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 1:08 pmPQuincy says:
Why is Schroeder’s nomination taking so long?
Because the Senate is a hyperpartisan gridlocked morass in which a single Senator can secretly block almost anything (and many do), and in which the Republicans are making unprecedentedly frequent use of filibuster threats, which slows down everything in general, and tends to push nominations to the bottom of pile, in addition to slowing down the actual nominations (making sure that 60 senators will vote for cloture, which is difficult given Republican bloc voting, even when the subsequent vote on the substance is often not close at all.)
Another edition of SASQ.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 1:24 pmDavid Nieporent says:
Isn’t everything taking a long time in this administration? Nominations, his Afghanistan policy, plus lots of parts of his legislative agenda, including simple ones like DADT. And even with high priority items like health care, the administration hasn’t been proactive, instead allowing Congress to run with it.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 1:41 pm“Bob Bauer To Be White House Counsel; Greg Craig To Depart” and related posts - KuASha Organization says:
[...] Is the Greg Craig Watch Over? - The Volokh Conspiracy [...]
Dave N says:
Fixed it for you.
Frankly, I argued THEN that while I had no problems with filibusters for legislation, they should be disallowed for confirmations. I still believe that, though the old goose/gander thing does spring to mind when I hear complaints about Republican filibuster threats.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 3:12 pmJoe says:
just as the Democrats did during the Bush Administration
True enough if “just” doesn’t mean in the same number of cases. I don’t recall the many pieces of legislation blocked by Dems when the Republicans were in the majority akin to those by the Republican minority.
Sure, the Dems filibustered certain times. BTW, if filibusters are used, life time appointments would be one of the most legitimate uses. Ditto, probably for certain specific appointments that might disproportionately effect certain regions. Senatorial courtesy is a tradition that reflects this principle.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 3:22 pmDave N says:
Joe,
I don’t remember that many filibusters that have been waged by the Republicans against legislation this year. I have heard of threats of filibusters, but that is not the same thing.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 5:24 pmJoe says:
I don’t remember that many filibusters that have been waged by the Republicans against legislation this year.
I didn’t say “this year.”
Putting aside the stimulus bill, sure, since they only have forty votes now. But, the Dems have been in the majority since 2006. From 2006–9, there were various actions, including related to the war sponsored by a former Secretary of the Reagan Administration, blocked because of Republican filibusters.
And, these days, a threat — if the votes are there — is enough. There is no need for a full-fledged filibuster.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 6:04 pmMark N. says:
That seems to be the Democratic leadership’s own fault, really. The Republicans were more hardline about making the Democrats actually get up and filibuster a bill if they said they were going to, and even threatened the “nuclear option” of ditching filibusters entirely. Reid, by contrast, seems happy to simply count a threat of filibuster as decisive, and back down without making people get out on the floor for 60 hours reading phone books.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 6:37 pmafr114 says:
When does this stop? This good for the goose/ gander belief I think is wrong.
Republicans are way more political than Democrats.
When did the Democrats ever, I mean ever use the attorney general’s office for politics (Bush investigating Democrats to tarnish them during election campaigns, firing AG who don’t aggressivly investigate Democrats) It’s all politics with Republicans..everything...Nominations (Dawn Johnson), Bills(Healthcare), Presidential Announcements on anything(Obama addressing kids in school like Reagan and Bush did).
It never stops. Never. And, this is why it’s taking so god damn long to vet these candidates.
Not a single god damn Republican was arguing against Bush’s tax cut even though Bush tax cuts were responsible for 51% of the mushrooming federal deficit.
Now, every one is a deficit hawk.
Quote
November 13, 2009, 8:06 pmBob in SeaTac says:
The senate and congress should just stop proposing bills. Remember, as Will Rogers said, “No man’s life or property is safe while Congress is in session.”
Quote
November 13, 2009, 11:16 pmDave N says:
Afr,
Sorry to hear you have amnesia about all political events prior to 2001. Hope you get some help for that.
Quote
November 14, 2009, 11:39 amDonald says:
I think this is not quite right. Ryan Grim wrote a piece for the Huffington Post addressing this very question. He reported, among other things:
The memo is attached at the end of the piece. Maybe there are parliamentary experts on this comments board who would disagree, but I am taking Grim’s word for it, for now.
Quote
November 14, 2009, 4:46 pmA. Hamilton says:
How about a good word for Greg Craig?
Quote
November 15, 2009, 9:49 pmWeekly Web Watch 11/9/09 – 11/15/09 « EXECUTIVE WATCH says:
[...] slow pace in nominating judges, something further held up by the delay in confirmation of his nominee for the Office of Legal [...]
Purple Kooaid says:
why the Craig debacle matters. Interesting article. Obama’s chicago crowd are nastier than I thought. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29716.html
Quote
November 20, 2009, 11:18 pm