UPDATE: Justice or Just Us? JUSTICE!!

The man responsible for some of the most vile comments directed towards lawyers serving the public interest has resigned.

I haven't heard any CEOs speaking up, as I predicted (although I also predicted I'd be wrong about my own prediction, just to make sure I covered all my bases, so on that count, I was a right.)

But at least Charles "Cully" Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs is no longer a Pentagon employee.

Stimson said he was leaving because of the controversy over a radio interview in which he said he found it shocking that lawyers at many of the nation's top law firms represent detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba.

There is hope for Justice in this world after all!

An Apology Senator...

"This committee owes an apology, Senator", said Tom Hagen, in one of my favorite scenes in The Godfather, Part II.

And it seems like today, we have an apology from Cully Stimson, the Defense Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs. He says,

"Regrettably, my comments left the impression that I question the integrity of those engaged in the zealous defense of detainees in Guantanamo. I do not.

I believe firmly that a foundational principle of our legal system is that the system works best when both sides are represented by competent legal counsel. I support pro bono work, as I said in the interview. I was a criminal defense attorney in two of my three tours in the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. I zealously represented unpopular clients -- people charged with crimes that did not make them, or their attorneys, popular in the military."

This is great! But I can't help but notice that nowhere in his apology is there anything about the corporate CEOs taking their business away from the powerful law firms whose associates and partners represent Gitmo detainees pro bono.

So while it's nice that he supports pro bono work and has done some defense work when he was a Navy JAG, this apology subtly leaves out his call for corporate clients to investigate (and presumably drop) the law firms who are also representing people held in Gitmo.

I think that's called a non-apology, apology, depending on what your definition of is and apologize, is.

Justice or Just Us?

I would think that Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, one of top lawyers at the Defense Department would be smart enough not to go on record chastising some of America's top law firms for having their partners and/or associates represent pro bono "America's enemies" being held in Gitmo.

But I would have also thought that a majority of Americans would be smart enough not to vote for W. twice. Alas, it was not to be, in either case. This has very little to do with youth rights issues, other than tangentially, as there are some minors being held at Gitmo, allegedly.

Having worked with lawyers representing unpopular clients for free, I can say that it is essential for there to be a Justice system that works for everyone. There is a much greater need for these services than there are lawyers willing to do this difficult, but essential, work. And the people who usually get the help are the ones with the "sexiest" cases -- and a Gitmo detainee held without charges is about a sexy as it gets in legal circles.

So I'm not surprised that the top firms in the U.S. are representing all but two of these men, coordinated by the excellent staff at the Center for Constitutional Rights, who I also had the pleasure of working with in the aftermath post-9/11. As Stimson said,

“I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”

Now generally, I'm not one to stick up for corporate CEOs, but I think they'll do America proud and maintain their relationships with their corporate counsel. In fact, I'll go even further and make the first of what I'm sure will be many (incorrect) predictions on this blog and say that at least one CEO will publicly rebuke Stimson and the entire Bush Administration for putting and Justice for all opposite the profits their companies make.

Justice is what makes profit possible -- and markets for that matter. Don't believe me? Go ask someone involved in an illicit industry where they go when their competitors engage in unfair practices? It ain't to court, it's to the corner to settle the score. And as Virgil Sollozzo, "The Turk" from the first Godfather famously quipped, " I'm a businessman; blood is a big expense."

Here's hoping America's CEOs agree and put Justice at the top of their priority list, where it belongs. Otherwise, who knows what might happen as a result?