Peter Keisler
Encyclopedia
Peter D. Keisler is an American
lawyer
whose 2006 nomination by President
George W. Bush
to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
became embroiled in partisan controversy. Presently a partner at the firm of Sidley Austin
in Washington, D.C.
, he formerly was the Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Civil Division
at the U.S. Department of Justice. Upon the resignation of Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales
, until November 9, 2007, he was also the Acting Attorney General of the United States.
in Long Island, New York, Keisler went to Yale University
both for undergraduate and law school. As an undergraduate, Keisler was the Chairman of the Party of the Right (Yale)
and the Speaker of the Yale Political Union
. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 1981 and then entered Yale Law School
. In 1982, he helped to co-found the Federalist Society
, a conservative thinktank http://www.nndb.com/org/496/000042370/. He received his J.D.
in 1985. After law school, Keisler clerked for Judge Robert Bork
on the D.C. Circuit from 1985 to 1986. After this clerkship, he joined the Office of Legal Counsel
under President Ronald Reagan
. There, he worked on both the Supreme Court
nominations of his former boss, Robert Bork
, and the man who replaced Bork, Anthony Kennedy
. After Kennedy was confirmed, he hired Keisler to be one of his four law clerks during his first year on the Court in 1988. One of his fellow clerks during that year was Miguel Estrada
, another conservative nominee to the D.C. Circuit whose nomination was controversially filibuster
ed by the Democrats in 2003.
After finishing his Supreme Court clerkship, Mr. Keisler became a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin
. He specialized in general and appellate litigation and telecommunications law, and argued before the Supreme Court
and numerous federal Courts of Appeals. In 2002, he left his job in order to join the Department of Justice
. He joined the Department on June 24, 2002, as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General
and Acting Associate Attorney General.
Peter Keisler was sworn in as the Civil Division's Assistant Attorney General on July 1, 2003. In that capacity, most of his legal work was clearly dictated by his role as head of a component obligated to defend government policies and statutes. Consistent with this role, Mr. Keisler was involved in defending the Bush Administration’s policies in the Global War on Terror
. He has also represented the government in defense of laws protecting access to abortion clinics and imposing requirements on telemarketing companies.
In probably the most well-known case he handled, Keisler argued on behalf
of the government in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
in the D.C. Circuit and participated in both the case's appellate and Supreme Court briefs. In addition, he personally led the team that responded to a legal appeal by Sabin Willett
, the lawyer for the seventeen remaining Uyghur captives in Guantanamo,
that tested the use of a provision of the Detainee Treatment Act
in terms of whether or not captives could challenge the rulings of their Combatant Status Review Tribunal
s.
On September 6, 2007, Keisler announced his resignation from the Department of Justice in order to "spend time with his family."
On September 17, 2007, President Bush announced that Keisler had agreed to remain at the Department of Justice as Acting Attorney General until the Senate confirmation of a new Attorney General; Bush also announced the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General
at the same time.
and a practising lawyer in Washington, D.C.
, was considered for a Maryland seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
during the spring of 2001. Maryland's two Democratic senators, Paul Sarbanes
and Barbara Mikulski
, however, blocked the White House from making the nomination on the grounds that Keisler did not have strong enough ties to the Maryland legal community.
Keisler was later nominated for a position on the D.C. Circuit
on June 29, 2006 by President George W. Bush
to fill a seat vacated by John Roberts
, whom Bush appointed Chief Justice of the United States
in 2005. At the time, the 109th Senate was controlled by the Republican Party. On August 1, 2006, he received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate on September 29, 2006 returned the nomination to the President without acting on it, prior to adjourning for the 2006 elections, on September 30, 2006.
After the 2006 midterm congressional elections (in which the Democrats reclaimed control of the Senate), President Bush renominated Keisler on November 15, 2006. The Senate returned the nomination to Bush on December 9, 2006 without acting on the nomination, before the 109th Congress's final adjournment. President Bush renominated Keisler on January 9, 2007 for consideration by the Senate during the 110th Congress. The Democratic leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee during that congress, however, refused to act on the nomination.
It was reported at the time that the Democrats in the Senate did not want to confirm Keisler for four basic reasons. First, he was a co-founder of the Federalist Society
, a conservative legal group which many Democrats saw as seeking to control the federal judiciary. He had been on its board of directors from 1983 until 2000. Second, he clerked for Robert Bork
, a conservative Republican judge whose nomination to the Supreme Court was embroiled in controversy before being rejected in 1987 by a Senate controlled by the Democrats. Third, during Keisler's tenure at the DOJ
, he was instrumental in defending some of the most controversial policies of Republican President George W. Bush
concerning the Global War on Terror
. Finally, he was seen as being a possible Republican nominee to the Supreme Court
.
as a global coordinator of the firm’s appellate practice in its Washington, D.C. office. On October 21, 2008, Sidley Austin announced that Keisler would be joining the firm's Executive Committee, the committee that exercises general authority over the affairs of the firm.
Keisler and his wife, Susan, have three children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
whose 2006 nomination by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
became embroiled in partisan controversy. Presently a partner at the firm of Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm with more than 1,650 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 17 cities worldwide, with the most...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, he formerly was the Assistant Attorney General
United States Assistant Attorney General
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General.The President of the United States appoints individuals to the position of Assistant Attorney General with the advice and consent of the Senate...
in charge of the Civil Division
United States Department of Justice Civil Division
The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, Members of Congress, Cabinet officers and other Federal employees...
at the U.S. Department of Justice. Upon the resignation of Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
, until November 9, 2007, he was also the Acting Attorney General of the United States.
Background
A 1977 graduate from George W. Hewlett High SchoolGeorge W. Hewlett High School
George W. Hewlett High School is a four-year public high school in Hewlett, New York, which is a part of the Five Towns area of the South Shore of Long Island. The school is the only high school in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District . On March 13, 2008, Asst. Principal Thomas Russo was named...
in Long Island, New York, Keisler went to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
both for undergraduate and law school. As an undergraduate, Keisler was the Chairman of the Party of the Right (Yale)
Party of the Right (Yale)
The Party of the Right is a fraternal, political, and intellectual organization founded in 1953, functioning secondarily as one of the parties within the Yale Political Union. The POR was founded by genuinely conservative members of the Conservative Party, outraged by the Conservative Party's...
and the Speaker of the Yale Political Union
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union , a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold , to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union...
. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale College in 1981 and then entered Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
. In 1982, he helped to co-found the Federalist Society
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives seeking reform of the current American legal system in accordance with a textualist and/or originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution...
, a conservative thinktank http://www.nndb.com/org/496/000042370/. He received his J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
in 1985. After law school, Keisler clerked for Judge Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
on the D.C. Circuit from 1985 to 1986. After this clerkship, he joined the Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General in his function as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies.-History:...
under President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. There, he worked on both the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
nominations of his former boss, Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, and the man who replaced Bork, Anthony Kennedy
Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, having been appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Kennedy has often been the swing vote on many of the Court's politically charged 5–4 decisions...
. After Kennedy was confirmed, he hired Keisler to be one of his four law clerks during his first year on the Court in 1988. One of his fellow clerks during that year was Miguel Estrada
Miguel Estrada
Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda is an attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, another conservative nominee to the D.C. Circuit whose nomination was controversially filibuster
Filibuster
A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
ed by the Democrats in 2003.
After finishing his Supreme Court clerkship, Mr. Keisler became a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm with more than 1,650 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 17 cities worldwide, with the most...
. He specialized in general and appellate litigation and telecommunications law, and argued before the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
and numerous federal Courts of Appeals. In 2002, he left his job in order to join the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
. He joined the Department on June 24, 2002, as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General
United States Associate Attorney General
The Associate Attorney General is the third-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. The Associate Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General in policies relating to civil justice, federal and local law enforcement, and public...
and Acting Associate Attorney General.
Peter Keisler was sworn in as the Civil Division's Assistant Attorney General on July 1, 2003. In that capacity, most of his legal work was clearly dictated by his role as head of a component obligated to defend government policies and statutes. Consistent with this role, Mr. Keisler was involved in defending the Bush Administration’s policies in the Global War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. He has also represented the government in defense of laws protecting access to abortion clinics and imposing requirements on telemarketing companies.
In probably the most well-known case he handled, Keisler argued on behalf
of the government in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military...
in the D.C. Circuit and participated in both the case's appellate and Supreme Court briefs. In addition, he personally led the team that responded to a legal appeal by Sabin Willett
Sabin Willett
Peter Sabin Willett, known as Sabin Willett, is an American lawyer and novelist, a partner with the Boston law firm Bingham McCutchen, previously called Bingham Dana. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts...
, the lawyer for the seventeen remaining Uyghur captives in Guantanamo,
that tested the use of a provision of the Detainee Treatment Act
Detainee Treatment Act
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 is an Act of the United States Congress that prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay; requires military interrogations to be performed according to the U.S...
in terms of whether or not captives could challenge the rulings of their Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
s.
On September 6, 2007, Keisler announced his resignation from the Department of Justice in order to "spend time with his family."
On September 17, 2007, President Bush announced that Keisler had agreed to remain at the Department of Justice as Acting Attorney General until the Senate confirmation of a new Attorney General; Bush also announced the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
at the same time.
D.C. Circuit nomination under Bush
Originally, Keisler, a resident of Bethesda, MarylandBethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
and a practising lawyer in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, was considered for a Maryland seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
during the spring of 2001. Maryland's two Democratic senators, Paul Sarbanes
Paul Sarbanes
Paul Spyros Sarbanes , a Democrat, is a former United States Senator who represented the state of Maryland. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, having served from 1977 until 2007. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin...
and Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Ann Mikulski is the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Mikulski, a former U.S. Representative, is the longest-serving female senator in U.S...
, however, blocked the White House from making the nomination on the grounds that Keisler did not have strong enough ties to the Maryland legal community.
Keisler was later nominated for a position on the D.C. Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
on June 29, 2006 by President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to fill a seat vacated by John Roberts
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts, Jr. is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He has served since 2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist...
, whom Bush appointed Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
in 2005. At the time, the 109th Senate was controlled by the Republican Party. On August 1, 2006, he received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate on September 29, 2006 returned the nomination to the President without acting on it, prior to adjourning for the 2006 elections, on September 30, 2006.
After the 2006 midterm congressional elections (in which the Democrats reclaimed control of the Senate), President Bush renominated Keisler on November 15, 2006. The Senate returned the nomination to Bush on December 9, 2006 without acting on the nomination, before the 109th Congress's final adjournment. President Bush renominated Keisler on January 9, 2007 for consideration by the Senate during the 110th Congress. The Democratic leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee during that congress, however, refused to act on the nomination.
It was reported at the time that the Democrats in the Senate did not want to confirm Keisler for four basic reasons. First, he was a co-founder of the Federalist Society
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives seeking reform of the current American legal system in accordance with a textualist and/or originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution...
, a conservative legal group which many Democrats saw as seeking to control the federal judiciary. He had been on its board of directors from 1983 until 2000. Second, he clerked for Robert Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
, a conservative Republican judge whose nomination to the Supreme Court was embroiled in controversy before being rejected in 1987 by a Senate controlled by the Democrats. Third, during Keisler's tenure at the DOJ
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, he was instrumental in defending some of the most controversial policies of Republican President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
concerning the Global War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. Finally, he was seen as being a possible Republican nominee to the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
.
Current life
On March 18, 2008, it was announced that Keisler would be returning to his former position as a partner of Sidley AustinSidley Austin
Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm with more than 1,650 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 17 cities worldwide, with the most...
as a global coordinator of the firm’s appellate practice in its Washington, D.C. office. On October 21, 2008, Sidley Austin announced that Keisler would be joining the firm's Executive Committee, the committee that exercises general authority over the affairs of the firm.
Keisler and his wife, Susan, have three children.
See also
- List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
- President George W. Bush's judicial appointments controversy
- George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates