Obama Justice picks show new direction

Barack Obama again showed that change is on the way with his choices for the Justice Department. The new selections show that Obama is intent on reversing what are seen as infringements on civil protections by the Bush administration.

Obama's picked Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel, the same group that helped expand George W. Bush's national security powers.

Johnsen has hammered"Bush's corruption of our American ideals," and about Bush "that in fighting the war on terror, he is not bound by the laws Congress has enacted."

Other Obama nominations are:

David Ogden, a top Justice Department official during the Clinton administration, as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 figure under Attorney General-designate Eric Holder.

Elena Kagan, the dean of the Harvard University Law School and a former Clinton White House aide, as solicitor general.

Tom Perrelli, counsel to Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno from 1997 to 1999, as the associate attorney general who oversees civil matters.

USA Today

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