POSITIONS

Nancy Pelosi Appoints Douglas Letter New General Counsel of the House

Letter is coming out of retirement for the role, after spending 40 years in the Department of Justice.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Douglas N. Letter as the new General Counsel of the House of Representatives on Friday, placing the seasoned legal professional as the top lawyer in the House and in position to access Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report. Letter spent 40 years in the Justice Department before retiring earlier this year. He served as the Director of the Civil Division Appellate Staff at the DOJ, and is now a Senior Litigator at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center. In a September op-ed published in Just Security, Letter argued that executive privilege does not apply to the forthcoming Mueller report. “Under the legal regime in which Mueller and [Deputy Attorney General Rod] Rosenstein operate, a Special Counsel is a creature of the Justice Department,” Letter wrote. But cautioned that the decision of whether or not the report is hidden from the public is “a choice for the President to make.” Letter's many years of experience in the DOJ will serve Democrats as they seek to advance their legislative agenda and impose accountability on the Trump White House. “I am eager to apply my litigation experience as I take on the challenges and opportunities that come with the important position,” Letter said in a statement about his appointment.

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