Lawfare's inside lawyers

Boston Globe:

The Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism.

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The administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps - the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal force - can be promoted.

A Pentagon spokeswoman did not respond to questions about the reasoning behind the proposed regulations. But the requirement of coordination - which many former JAGs say would give the administration veto power over any JAG promotion or appointment - is consistent with past administration efforts to impose greater control over the military lawyers.

The former JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers' role as a check-and-balance on presidential power, because politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of JAGs who they believe would speak up if they think a White House policy is illegal.

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That last paragraph is one of the most boneheaded ignorant statements by a lawyer I have seen recently. The President is the commander in chief and the military is not there, nor is its lawyers there to act as a check or balance on the power of the presidency. In fact to do so would be insubordination and mutiny. The checks and balances in the Constitution are between the executive, legislative and judiciary. Lawyer's in the military are there to offer advice to the military in the execution of the President's orders. Like all lawyers they can offer advice to their client, but they cannot force him to take it. It is absurd to suggest that military lawyers are there to thwart the President.

In the current war they have mucked up attacks on terrorist and muddled the prosecution of the terrorist. That should be enough mischief for these guys.