Guantanomo Pro Bono: Charles Stimson meet Atticus Finch

[LongTomH]

Charles Stimson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs has lashed out at the lawyers who defend Guantanomo detainees. An op-ed in the Jurist, a respected law journal answers Mr. Stimson by calling up the memory of a beloved book and movie.

Charles Stimson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, recently excoriated several large law firms, suggesting that the firms’ pro bono representation of Guantanamo detainees rendered them unfit to continue their for-profit representation of corporations. Apparently, Mr. Stimson has missed the recent renaissance of Harper Lee, Truman Capote’s friend who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. In that famous book, lawyer Finch represents Tom Robinson, an African-American man falsely accused of raping a white woman, at a time when such accusations typically resulted in public lynchings. Suffice it to say that Atticus Finch represented a very unpopular client.

[question everything]

1. Just watched a report on MSNBC

Too late to recommend, but at least I can kick.

I cannot believe that they will attempt to threaten law firms from defending the detainees - this is their right.