The GOP is examining David Ogden’s work as a private lawyer and conservatives are questioning his legal work defending the adult entertainment industry in First Amendment cases. Still, his confirmation seems to be a sure thing.
By David Ingram
Legal Times
WASHINGTON — The nomination of David Ogden to be deputy attorney general has given senators a chance to revisit some of most controversial Supreme Court decisions of the last two decades.
During a two-hour confirmation hearing last week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Ogden about his work on cases involving abortion, the death penalty, foreign law and obscenity, repeatedly asking whether he personally holds the views that he argued on behalf of his clients. The partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr replied that in many cases he does not, and that in others he would still enforce the law if confirmed as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department.
Anti-pornography activists have been among the most vocal critics of Ogden’s nomination because of his work on behalf of the adult entertainment industry in First Amendment cases.
“A lawyer in private practice does not sit in judgment of his clients. His job is to present their view as persuasively as possible,” Ogden said at the Feb. 5 hearing.
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