Editor’s note: The following guest commentary was originally posted on HuffingtonPost.com. Main Justice has received permission from the authors to republish it here.

Is Barack Obama now ready to fight partisan confirmation obstruction against his nominees? When Ben Bernanke’s reappointment was jeopardized, the president fully engaged the fight. Obama worked the phones himself to help Senate leadership line up 60 cloture votes. But what about the additional 300 critical federal executive, regulatory and judicial positions that remain empty?

At his question session during the Senate Democrat retreat, Obama was adamant that if “government is going to work for the American people,” Republican confirmation obstruction “has to end.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently detailed national security dangers resulting from Republican obstruction of defense, intelligence and homeland security appointments. And, Sen. Tom Harkin is prioritizing labor-related confirmation fights. Of equal concern should be the growing number of Department of Justice vacancies, especially in those offices charged with establishing legal policy and vetting scores of other federal nominees, including judges.

Deputy Attorney General David Ogden’s resignation effective early this month leaves the Justice Department without a permanent number two executive official. And the three recently renominated Assistant A.G.s (Dawn Johnsen, Christopher Schroeder, and Mary Smith) will rejoin the long queue of other Obama nominees waiting for a Senate floor vote. It is past time for the Senate majority and the Administration to fight for Justice.

Soliciting Bipartisan Advice, Receiving Partisan Contempt

A year ago seemed like such a hopeful time. Barack Obama entered the White House sincerely wanting to end the partisan confirmation wars. Obama actively solicited bipartisan senatorial advice and, at first, received well-deserved praise for his genuinely diverse, exceptionally qualified, and experienced nominees.

But by late spring, “partisan payback” was revealed as the Senate minority’s watchword from January 20, 2009. As presidential poll numbers declined, Republican obstruction increased. Extreme slow walking was Senate summer sport and the abuse of individual Senate holds (mini-filibusters), the regular order of business.

In fall 2009, partisan procedural delay tactics had proven effective; hundreds of executive and regulatory vacancies still existed and Obama had benched only a dozen judges. On December 24, 2009, Republicans claimed yet another tactical victory by forcing several key nominees back to the White House.

Republican leaders refused to allow the traditional courtesy permitting pending nominations to carry over to the second Senate session. For the Obama nominees, whose lives were on hold for up to a year awaiting confirmation, it was an especially insulting lump of Republican coal in their stockings.

Among the rudely returned were three DOJ Assistant A.G. nominees (Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel, Christopher Schroeder for the Office of Legal Policy, and Mary Smith for the Tax Division). Also rejected was Craig Becker, Obama’s nominee to Chair the quorum-challenged National Labor Relations Board.

Commentators from the left and right prematurely blogged: “Senate Returns Nominees: White House Rolls Over.” Wrong!

Obama Fights Back but Sessions Targets Dawn Johnsen

First-year confirmation lessons may have been learned. President Obama stood by his women and men — at both Justice and the NLRB. The nominations were sent back to the Senate with White House expectations that the respective Senate committees (Judiciary and Labor) would quickly reapprove the renominations so they could proceed to a floor vote.

Obama’s bold act spurred Sen. Arlen Specter to finally commit to Dawn Johnsen for the OLC. Indiana Republican Richard Luger also reaffirmed his pledge to support the Indiana University law professor. For a few days it appeared Johnsen finally had the 60 cloture votes to unblock her year-old nomination. This whip count did not include Sen. Ben Nelson, the lone Democrat yet undecided on Johnsen.

But Obama’s assertive renomination resulted in Johnsen being targeted for more obstruction. Sen. Jeff Sessions, a ranking Judiciary Committee member, demanded a second round of hearings for Johnsen and other renominated DOJ officials. Republicans also invoked committee rules to game out an additional week’s delay. The three renominated DOJ officials join other nominees, including several judicial nominees, on the Thursday, February 4th agenda of the Judiciary Committee’s latest executive schedule.

Meanwhile, Scott Brown’s election confused the cloture whip count. Regardless of when Senator-elect Brown takes Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, Johnsen and all re-nominated DOJ officials should be quickly reapproved by the Judiciary Committee. Also, Chair Patrick Leahy should take the nominations to the Senate floor as soon as possible.

The 60 votes needed for cloture can be found. On February 1, Sen. Tom Harkin mustered exactly the 60 votes needed for cloture when he broke the GOP filibuster of Obama’s nominee for Labor Department Solicitor.

As the Administration did for Bernanke, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the entire White House political operation must lobby for the 60 cloture votes for Justice and NLRB officials. Particular attention should be focused on Dawn Johnsen’s appointment.

Johnsen: A Superb OLC Fit

Democrats and Republicans know the importance of the Office of Legal Counsel to national justice and the rule of law (if only by the damage it inflicted during the Bush years).

The OLC is the in-house lawyer for the Attorney General and the Justice Department. When an official needs high-level constitutional advice, the OLC can be consulted. An OLC opinion carries great persuasive authority but it also effectively insulates federal officials relying on the advice, from liability. When government factions disagree, the OLC is an important arbiter.

Doug Kmiec, OLC head for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, describes the OLC as the Justice Department’s “conscience.” Kmiec, who endured harsh party and church criticism for his 2008 support of Barack Obama, is well aware of the cost of conscientious conviction. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Malta, Doug Kmiec joined other legal stars of both parties in praising Dawn Johnsen.

He judged Johnsen’s “spunk and independence of mind” as “just the right tonic for a once proud, but recently tarnished, office.” Kmiec referenced her constitutional scholarship and past public service: “[W]e would be hard-pressed to identify any other comparable appointee for a Justice post who would be as well suited.” (Authors’ note: Doug Kmiec was our Dean at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law from 2001-2003.)

Most importantly, the OLC has a proud tradition of offering independent and tempered advice to the President and the White House. In Dawn Johnsen’s words, “saying no” to the president is “the OLC’s core job description.”

Walter Dellinger, former OLC head, worked with Johnsen and went on to serve as U.S. Solicitor General, heralds Johnsen’s “keen intellect and extraordinarily good judgment.” Dellinger, a reported Obama Supreme Court short- lister, recommends Johnsen because of her “deep dedication to the rule of law.”

By any measure, Johnsen is a superb choice for the job. She served in the OLC for five Clinton years; indeed, Johnsen was acting head of the OLC from 1997-1998. For over the past dozen years, she has been a leading scholar on Justice Department issues. Prof. Johnsen is certainly patient. She patiently waited a year for Senate confirmation for her to fulfill exactly the same role she did for over a year in the Clinton Justice Department.

Speaking Truth to Power, Too Often

Dawn Johnsen is a distinguished academic and advocate, championing privacy, reproductive choice, the rule of law, separation of powers, and DOJ integrity. So why have Republicans, like Sen. John Cornyn, blocked her appointment for over a year? Perhaps the scholar dared to speak truth to power once too often.

In her 2008, Slate commentary, Johnsen dissected the flawed reasoning of the infamous torture memos and other legal opinions written by then OLC attorney John Yoo. She dared connect the bloody dots from Yoo’s poison pen directly to George W. Bush’s oval office: “President Bush asked for this kind of distorted legal advice. Remember, from day one, the President sent his lawyers the express message that they were NOT to interpret the law impartially and straight up.”

Time to Get Serious

Sen. John Cornyn represents the obstructionist wing of the Republican Party well in defaming Johnsen (using perhaps unintentionally sexist language) by claiming she lacks the “requisite seriousness” for the OLC job. Truth be told, Cornyn’s real issue with Johnsen may be that the woman is just too serious a scholar and too smart a lawyer.

Were it not for his Senate power to individually block a nominee, it would be hard to take Cornyn’s criticism seriously. Consider his recent Senate campaign ad featuring “Big John, Big Bad John” sporting an oversized cowboy hat, riding on a too pretty horse. The reelection ad’s Zane Grey Theatre voice-over describes Senator “Big Johnnie” being thanked by a grateful populace for “doing the Lord’s work for Texas,” in an undisclosed location: “For that place out yonder needs more men like you, Who shoot straight, And talk straight, And enjoy a good brew. ”

Perhaps most threatening to the junior senator from Texas, Johnsen has been too consistent in her principles. If Senate memory serves, it was long-time “up-or-down confirmation vote” advocate John Cornyn who stated: “What the American people want and expect is that we…will not degenerate into partisan finger-pointing or name-calling, nor obstruction.” Sen. Cornyn also complained in a 2005 letter to the New York Times: “Senate practice and even the Constitution contemplate deference to the president and a presumption in favor of confirmation.”

Are there at least two or three Republican senators who will join Democrats in a series of confirmation cloture votes for Justice’s sake? Are none in the minority embarrassed by the blatant GOP hypocrisy in blocking Obama nominations, when such procedural tactics were so uniformly (even elegantly) criticized by the Republicans during the George W. Bush years?

Dawn Johnsen’s appointment is a litmus test for the Senate confirmation process and for the recharged Obama political operation. If she does not receive a full Senate vote, Democrats must implement the Constitutional Option to return to the Framer’s design of a simple majority confirmation vote.

And, independently, as I’ve argued before for presidents of both parties, President Obama should fully utilize the alternative recess appointment process to fully staff our national government. If Obama finds the will, Clause 3 of Article II, Section 2 will provide the constitutional way. All recess commissions signed over the President’s Day Senate break would last until “the End of their next Session” — late 2011.

One appointment way or the other, the government must be fully staffed.

Victor Williams is an attorney in Washington D.C. and clinical assistant professor at Catholic University of America School of Law; Nicola Sanchez is an attorney with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The views expressed are the authors’ alone and do not reflect those of CUA, the NRC or the federal government.

For the confirmation prospects for President Barack Obama’s recently re-nominated pick to lead the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), recent developments have brought one bit of good news and one bit of potentially bad news.

Earlier this month, long-stalled OLC nominee Dawn Johnsen received the backing of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), who previously said he opposed her candidacy to head the elite DOJ office that assesses the constitutionality and legality of government actions.

Specter’s newly declared support theoretically put Johnsen at the 60 votes that would Democrats need to invoke cloture and proceed to a Senate floor vote on her nomination. And we emphasize the “theoretical” part, because the whip count is complicated.

Dawn Johnsen during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2009 (Getty Images)

Getting to 60 depended on ailing Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) being present in the chamber and having Democrats who haven’t declared their position on cloture, such as Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska,who opposes Johnsen, siding with their party on the procedural vote. One Republican — Sen. Richard Lugar of Johnsen’s home state of Indiana — has said he supports her nomination and a spokesman for the senator told Main Justice he “believes” the Indiana Republican would vote for cloture.

But the Senate victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts this week was another pothole in Johnsen’s long and winding confirmation road. Once Sen.-elect Brown is seated, Democrats will have only 59 votes in the Senate, including those of independents who caucus with the Democrats. Republicans will have 41.

The Judiciary Committee had endorsed her nomination March 19, 2009, on a party-line vote of 11-7. Although Democrats had 60 votes during most of the 10 months that Johnsen was a nominee last year, opposition to Johnsen from Specter, Nelson and several Republicans made it difficult for Democratic leaders to schedule a floor vote on the nomination. Conservative senators have voiced concerns about Johnsen’s attacks on the George W. Bush administration’s national security policies and her past work for an abortion rights group.

The Senate was forced to return the nominee to the White House on Dec. 24, after the majority leadership was unable to secure enough support to hold her over to the next session of Congress. But Obama re-nominated her this week.

With Lugar and Nelson voting for cloture and Byrd in good health, the Democrats would have their 60 votes. Without the senators, Democratic leaders might be able to lean on moderate Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who both remain undecided on cloture and confirmation.

Democrats seem unlikely to win any new Republican support on Johnsen. And Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, is urging panel Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to hold another hearing on Johnsen.

Sessions said in a letter to Leahy that there are “many unanswered questions” about her.

With health care still on the front burner and continued uncertainty about Johnsen’s prospects for confirmation, Johnsen could spend more months traveling a rocky road toward confirmation.

Don’t hold your breath but…

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is urging his fellow senators to support his effort to change Senate rules to essentially eliminate the filibuster, The Huffington Post reported today. A rule change must pass the Senate by a two-thirds vote.

The Senate confirmed three Justice Department officials by unanimous consent Saturday night.

They are:

Kenyen Brown (Main Justice file photo)

-Kenyen Brown (Southern District of Alabama): The House Ethics Committee staffer and former Southern District of Alabama Assistant U.S. Attorney was nominated Aug. 6. Brown would succeed Deborah Rhodes, who resigned April 17. Read more about the nominee here.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney was nominated Sept. 25. She would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. Read more about Rose here.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines lawyer was nominated Sept. 25. He would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We previously reported that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction. Read more about Klinefeldt here.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved three U.S. Attorney nominees by unanimous consent at its business meeting this morning.

They are:

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines lawyer was nominated Sept. 25. He would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We previously reported that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction. Read more about Klinefeldt here.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney was nominated Sept. 25. She would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. Read more about Rose here.

Kenyen Brown (Main Justice file photo)

-Kenyen Brown (Southern District of Alabama): The House Ethics Committee staffer and former Southern District of Alabama Assistant U.S. Attorney was nominated Aug. 6. Brown would succeed Deborah Rhodes, who resigned April 17. Read more about the nominee here.

The panel has now approved 24 U.S. Attorneys, including the 18 U.S. Attorneys who have been confirmed by the Senate. There are another five U.S. Attorney nominees who have not been considered by the committee yet. There are 93 U.S. Attorney positions nationwide.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the Iowa U.S. Attorney nominees Thursday, the panel announced today.

They are:

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines lawyer would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We previously reported that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction. Read more about Klinefeldt here.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. Read more about Rose here.

The panel is also slated to consider Southern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney nominee Kenyen Brown at the meeting Thursday.

Another six U.S. Attorney candidates have been nominated so far, but they haven’t come before the committee yet.

President Obama nominated U.S. Attorneys for Missouri, Montana and Iowa today.

They are:

Richard Callahan (Gov)

-Richard G. Callahan (Eastern District of Missouri): The Cole County, Mo., Circuit Court judge would replace Michael Reap, who has been acting U.S. Attorney since Catherine Hanaway resigned in April to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm.

-Michael W. Cotter (Montana): The Helena, Mont. lawyer would succeed controversial Bush holdover Bill Mercer, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Mercer was criticized for being the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General in Washington, D.C., for almost two years, while simultaneously serving as Montana U.S. Attorney. He has also come under fire for his role in the politicized firings of U.S. Attorneys in 2006.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines, Iowa lawyer would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We reported earlier this month that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers.

Read more about the nominees here.

Obama has now made a total of 27 U.S. Attorney nominations. The full Senate has considered 11 of those nominees and they were all confirmed by unanimous consent.

The Midwest has been hit hard by meth. Law enforcement devotes significant resources to combatting the illegal drug. All of which puts Des Moines lawyer Nick Klinefeldt, who is Sen. Tom Harkin’s choice for Iowa Southern District U.S. Attorney, in an unusual position.

Klinefeldt’s father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction, according to court records. Nick Klinefeldt declined to comment. A spokesman for Harkin said the candidate’s father’s conviction isn’t an issue.  ”It is Nick, not his father, who is up for consideration,” Bergen Kenny wrote in an e-mail. ”Senator Harkin believes that Nick will fully and fairly enforce the law and should be considered for U.S. Attorney based on his credentials.”

The elder Klinefeldt is slated to be released from federal prison in 2012.

Klinefeldt is a former aide to Harkin. He also served as general counsel for the Iowa Democratic party until earlier this year and as a lawyer for the Obama for President campaign in Iowa, according to the Iowa Independent, which reported in March that Harkin had recommended him for the U.S. Attorney post.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa regularly oversees prosecutions of methamphetamine manufacturers and users. The office announced 14 successful meth-related prosecutions this year, including four convictions last month.

The elder Klinefeldt was nabbed in a 2002 incident, according to court documents. On an October evening seven years ago, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt and another man, identified as William Jon DeMoss Jr., were riding in a minivan that contained a meth lab. (Read the criminal complaint here and other court documents here.) Acting on a tip, a deputy in the Polk County Sherriff’s Office stopped the van.

The police officer reported the van smelled of ether and ammonia — substances used to manufacture meth. A analysis showed the lab produced more than 5 grams of meth and had the materials necessary to make more of the drug.

A camouflage fanny pack with a loaded .22 caliber revolver in it was also discovered in the vehicle. Klinefeldt told the police officer that DeMoss wore the fanny pack when they were making the meth in a Des Moines forest, records show.

A federal judge sentenced Klinefeldt to prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. This was his second meth-related conviction. Klinefeldt was also convicted in 1993 for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

Tom Harkin (Gov)

Harkin recommended Nick Klinefeldt to replace the current U.S. Attorney, Matthew G. Whitaker, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Klinefeldt, 35, works in the general litigation department of Des Moines law firm Ahlers & Cooney. He is not a partner at his firm. He previously practiced complex civil and criminal litigation in Boston.

The U.S. Attorney candidate clerked for U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Judge Robert W. Pratt from 2000 to 2002 and Massachusetts Appeals Court Chief Justice Christopher J. Armstrong and Justice Benjamin Kaplan from 2002 to 2003.

He also has strong ties to Harkin, having worked for the senator’s 1996 reelection campaign and on his Senate staff before attending law school at the University of Iowa, according to the Radio Iowa blog. In 2008, he donated $500 to Harkin’s campaign and $500 to the Obama presidential campaign, records show. He also gave $1000 to the Iowa Democratic Party between 2007 and 2008.

Stephanie Rose — Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) choice for Iowa Northern District U.S. Attorney — is proceeding on course through the vetting process despite continued protests from immigrant rights groups, a person with knowledge of the nomination process told Main Justice today.

Stephanie Rose

The deputy chief of the office’s criminal division was recommended to President Obama in March. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have since questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year.

American Immigration Lawyers Association Vice President David Leopold has said the prosecutions from the raid weren’t fair because there weren’t enough lawyers to represent the workers. There is also a petition with more than 300 signatures that asks the Justice Department to investigate the Postville raid and questions Rose’s role in the prosecutions.

Harkin in May said Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. The raid was conducted during the term of U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth, a Bush appointee who never won Senate confirmation. Read our previous post here.

The persona familiar with the nomination told Main Justice that the questions surrounding Rose’s role in the raids aren’t an issue for the administration. The person said Rose hasn’t been formally nominated yet, because the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has all U.S. Attorney candidates on the back burner.

Obama also hasn’t nominated a U.S. Attorney for the Iowa Southern District. Harkin recommended Nick Klinefeldt for the post in March.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to approve an amendment that would remove the $80 million in the wartime spending bill that was requested to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison until President Obama comes up with a plan. The amendment also prohibits the use of funds to be used for the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States.

The amendment offered by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) passed with the support of 90 senators, and only six senators opposed the amendment including Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Carl Levin (Mich.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa).

Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has said he wouldn’t mind a “Guantanamo North” in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to house detainees, Congressional Quarterly reported today. Durbin, the assistant majority leader, told CQ that keeping suspected terrorists in U.S. prisons would not be a safety concern.

“We are already holding some of the most dangerous terrorists within the United States,” Durbin told CQ. “If we can safely hold these individuals, we can safely hold the Guantanamo detainees.”

Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid stood against Levin and Durbin yesterday saying that he would not support the transfer of detainees to the United States. He added that he would only accept the closure of Guantanamo Bay if Obama releases a detailed plan.

Also, on Capitol Hill today, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller warned the House Judiciary Committee about the danger of releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States, The Washington Post reported. But a federal judge ruled last night that the United States cannot hold Guantanamo Bay prisoners indefinitely, unless they “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11 attacks, The Post said.

Obama will discuss his Guantanamo Bay plans in a speech tomorrow, The Post reported.

The vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is crusading against Stephanie Rose’s recommendation to be U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.

Stephanie Rose

Rose, a  deputy chief of the office’s criminal division, played a central role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year, claims AILA’s David Leopold. The male detainees were housed at a fairground used for cattle shows in Waterloo. The National Cattle Congress was also the site of  make-shift court rooms for quickie trials that Leopold said lacked fairness because there weren’t enough lawyers to represent the workers.

In an item posted on AILA’s blog, Leopold wrote:

Rose was among the key assistant U.S. Attorneys who drove the mass prosecutions of nearly 300 undocumented immigrant workers arrested at the Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year. There the government brazenly used the federal identity theft law as a hammer to coerce the workers into pleading guilty to social security fraud, despite questionable evidence, and accepting automatic deportation.

But Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who recommended Rose to the White House, says Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers. The raid was conducted during the term of U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth, a Bush appointee who never faced Senate confirmation. In an interview with the Iowa Independent, Harkin said:

We looked into this in great detail. We contacted lawyers that were involved on the defense side during the hearings in Waterloo. The lawyers, who provided defense during that event, have come out with a letter in support of Rose’s nomination.

Harkin provided the Independent with a letter signed by 11 defense attorneys for the detained workers. The letter said Rose “was not involved in the major policy decisions that led to the raid. She did not make the decision to fast track these cases, nor did she have any part in how the individuals were to be housed.” The im

But AILA’s Leopold doesn’t buy it.

The argument that Rose “was only following orders” flatly contradicts the testimony of former Senior Associate Deputy Attorney General Deborah Rhodes who told the House Immigration Subcommittee last summer that the Postville prosecutions were planned by the local federal authorities. 

The Supreme Court ruled last week that prosecutors couldn’t convict immigrants of identify theft if they couldn’t prove the immigrants knew their false papers contained information stolen from an actual person.