How interesting was it to practice law in all three branches of government?
A. They each have different perspectives on what the law is, and they also have different institutional interests. I think in war time or an attack like 9/11, the executive branch often has to respond first. It’s designed by the Constitution to respond immediately. Congress always wants to participate, and it wants to watch what the executive branch is doing and criticize when (Congress) thinks it’s getting it wrong. It likes to take responsibility when things go well. The judiciary also has its own set of interests, because it wants to be careful about not becoming too political. Q. You recently wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal criticizing President Obama for closing Guantanamo Bay. A. He’s really restricting what the CIA can do in the war on terrorism. That’s my opinion. Now that I’m not in the government, part of my role, because I have a certain amount of expertise, is to try to keep the government honest. I wrote: This might be the right thing to do, but here are
