“I am eager to apply my litigation experience as I take on the challenges and opportunities that come with the important position of House General Counsel”. Douglas N. Letter, Former Director of the Civil Division Appellate Staff at the U.S. Department of Justice
Speaker of the House-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-California) announced the hiring of 40-year Department of Justice veteran attorney Douglas N. Letter as general counsel for the House of Representatives. The move happens just ahead of Democrats officially taking control of the House in 2019, and all of the subpoena power that comes with that.
Letter’s hiring is being hailed as a “very big deal,” just as his departure from the Department of Justice in January 2018 was regarded as a “very big deal.”
xWhoa. This is a Very Big Deal. https://t.co/aIR12v0EWHpic.twitter.com/ylyVOCm1aB
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 28, 2018 xThe news that Doug will serve as the top lawyer for the House of Representatives means that Nancy Pelosi & other Dems will have the benefit of sterling legal advice as they advance a legislative agenda, and as they seek to impose accountability on the Trump White House/agencies.
— Carrie Johnson (@johnson_carrie) December 28, 2018This tweet is from January of 2018 when Letter resigned his post at DOJ.
xDoug Letter personifies what is best about the Justice Department and at the same time is typical of DOJ lawyers: dedicated, smart and sacrificed to serve his country. Thank you for your service Doug. Job well done. https://t.co/j6ZTTZkgdR
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) January 3, 2018Matt Nahem of Law and Crime continues.
Although Letter retired from the DOJ earlier this year, he continued to work as a senior litigator at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center. When Letter left the DOJ, an NPR piece said, “40 years of experience walk[ed] out the door” with him. Pelosi said that Letter’s “deep experience” walking back through that door will be invaluable to the House of Representatives.
Doug Letter will be unleashed January 3rd when Democrats take control of the House of Representatives.snip
Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes previously described Letter this way, upon learning that Letter was leaving the DOJ:
He is the kind of institution at the department that every administration—Republican and Democratic alike—has relied on for zealous advocacy in tough and politically unpopular appellate cases and for quiet counsel on how to stay on the right side of the law.