Karl R. Thompson

Karl R. Thompson is an American lawyer and was the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice from 2014 until 20 January 2017.

Karl R. Thompson
Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
In office March 24, 2014 – January 20, 2017
Preceded by	Virginia A. Seitz
Succeeded by	Curtis E. Gannon (acting)
Personal details
Born	Karl Remón Thompson[1]
Alma mater	Harvard University (BA) University of Cambridge (PhD) University of Chicago (JD)
Profession	Lawyer

Education

Thompson received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1991, a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1998, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School with high honors in 2000.

Career

Thompson clerked for Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2002 Term. He worked in private practice at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, specializing in international and appellate litigation. He then joined the Office of Legal Counsel as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General. He later became Deputy Assistant Attorney General and also served as Counselor to the Attorney General. In March 2014, he became Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel, serving as the acting head of the office.[2]

Controversy

In late 2009 the New York Post and the Washington Times started to criticize the Obama Presidency for its employment of lawyers who had helped provide legal assistance to Guantanamo captives.[3][4][5] At first the New York Post and the Washington Times only named two of the nine lawyers they were reporting had "aided terrorists". But March 2010 the other seven had been named, including Thompson.[6]

Thompson was one of nine lawyers whose appointment these commentators criticized. On March 9, 2010, Thompson's boss at O'Melveny & Myers, Walter Dellinger, described asking Thompson to aid Lieutenant Commander William Kuebler in preparing his defense for Canadian Guantanamo captive Omar Khadr. According to Dellinger Thompson's assistance on the Khadr case lasted several months, and was conducted in parallel with Thompson's prior duties with the firm.

Lawyers and commentators from across the political spectrum came forward to defend Thompson and the other appointees who had been singled out for criticism.[7][8][9][10]

On May 24, 2010, the Vancouver Sun reported that the Canwest News Service had recently learned that there was internal controversy within the Obama administration over new rules for conducting Guantanamo military commissions.[11] A new 281 page manual was prepared, to update the commissions to comply with changes following the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2009. Edwards wrote that the change would have triggered dropping charges against a third of the Guantanamo captives the Prosecution planned to charge with murder.

Edwards noted that persons from OLC sought an edit to get new rules. Edwards also noted that OLC employed two lawyers including Thompson, who had been dubbed members of the "Al Qaeda 7" because they had worked on behalf of terrorism suspects prior to joining the government. The article does not state, however, that Thompson played any role in this matter or any role in seeking these edits.[11]

Inspector General access

In July 2015, Thompson signed a legal opinion regarding the Department of Justice Inspector General's access to certain narrow classes of information protected by the Federal Wiretap Act, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) (which deals with grand jury matters), and section 626 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.[12] These laws protect highly sensitive information such as the contents of wiretapped private phone conversations, confidential grand jury testimony, and private credit, banking, and employment information obtained by the FBI. The opinion concludes that the Inspector General's access to such information is controlled by the terms of these laws, which say the Department "must not disclose," "may not disseminate," or would violate the law by disclosing the information except as specified in these laws, rather than by the terms of the Inspector General Act, which says the Department shall grant the Inspector General access to "all records" available to the Department. The opinion also concludes that, under the terms of these laws, the Inspector General can obtain protected information for use in reviews of the Department's law enforcement operations (including misconduct investigations), but not for use in connection with reviews (like routine financial audits) that have no significant connection to the Department's conduct of its law enforcement functions. The opinion further concludes that when the Inspector General seeks access to protected information under these laws, a determination must be made that the investigation is related to the Department's law enforcement activities. In the case of wiretap and consumer credit information, the opinion does not say who must make that determination. In the case of grand jury information, the opinion concludes that, under the plain language of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, a government prosecutor must determine that the information can be shared. This involves an objective determination about whether the Inspector General's investigation is related to law enforcement, not a discretionary determination about whether the prosecutor feels that the Inspector General should receive the information. To date no documents have been ultimately denied but the OIG has complained that the need to comply with the terms of these laws is contrary to the letter and the spirit of the IG Act and has delayed the issuance of reports critical of the Justice Department.

References

1. "Meet the Assistant Attorney General". Justice.gov. January 11, 2018. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
2. Johnson, Carrie (March 25, 2014). "Karl R. Thompson Tapped To Lead Key Justice Department Unit". NPR.org. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
3. Fermino, Jennifer (February 23, 2010). "In-Justice! Furor over O's 'Gitmo' appointees". New York Post. Archived from the original on June 12, 2019. Neal Katyal, the department's principal deputy solicitor general, was once the lawyer for Osama bin Laden's driver. Jennifer Daskal, part of Obama's Detention Policy Task Force, advocated for detainees at Human Rights Watch.
4. Clyne, Meghan (July 17, 2009). "A bleeding heart to 'fight' terror: An odd pick for justice". New York Post. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Then again, you're not President Obama. His Justice Department has raised eyebrows by tapping Jennifer Daskal, formerly "senior counterterrorism counsel" at Human Rights Watch, to work as counsel in its National Security Division and to serve on a task force deciding the future of Guantanamo and its detainees.
5. Fermino, Jennifer (January 27, 2010). "Come clean, Mr. Holder". New York Post. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Months ago, Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Grassley asked Attorney General Eric Holder to disclose who in the administration had previously represented or agitated for alleged terrorists.
6. Fred Lucas (March 5, 2010). "Justice Department Makes 'Al Qaeda 7' List Public". Cybercast News Service. Archived from the original on May 16, 2010.
7. Savage, Charlie (March 4, 2010). "Bush Official Defends Lawyers Under Attack for Detainee Work". New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
8. Schwartz, John (March 9, 2010). "Attacks on Detainee Lawyers Split Conservatives". New York Times.
9. "Gitmo defense? Representing Gitmo inmates serves America". Chicago Tribune. March 9, 2010. Archived from the original on March 12, 2010.
10. Spak, Kevin (March 9, 2010). "Ken Starr Slams Liz Cheney Hit Job on Lawyers". Newser.
11. Edwards, Steven (May 24, 2010). "Obama officials pushed, but failed, for new rules in Khadr tribunal". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on November 9, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2010. Also involved in seeking an edit were people in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, insiders add. OLC, which assists U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in advising the president, employed two lawyers of a group the politically conservative campaign Keep America Safe recently dubbed the "al-Qaida Seven" because they had worked on behalf of terrorism suspects. One of the two, Karl Thompson, did work for the Khadr defence team for seven months from October 2008 while he worked for the firm O'Melveny & Myers, Fox News reported in March.
12. "The Department of Justice Inspector General's Access to Information Protected by the Federal Wiretap Act, Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and Section 626 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act" (PDF). July 20, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2019.