WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently added her own defense of Justice Department lawyers who came under attack from some conservatives for their previous representation of terrorism suspects.
Ginsburg, speaking at a Pro Bono Institute reception, said she was “unsettled, indeed alarmed” by news reports about the criticism made by Keep America Safe, according to text of her remarks provided by the court.
The group was co-founded by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, the Republicans’ most forceful critic of Obama administration national security policies.
Ginsburg counts a former law clerk, Karl Thompson, among the nine Justice officials who provided pro bono, or free, representation of suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other locations.
Ginsburg said her former clerk, whom she did not name in her text, is “a young man of great intelligence, integrity and devotion to the ideals that make the U.S.A. a great nation.”
She called the criticism a “base assault” and recalled that in 2007 the Bush administration’s deputy assistant defense secretary for detainee affairs, Charles “Cully” Stimson, said he found it shocking that lawyers at many top firms represent Guantanamo detainees.
Stimson, who resigned under fire following his comments, has defended the Justice lawyers from the latest criticism.
Ginsburg, who turned 77 on March 15, also took a gentle shot at Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., who said the justice probably wouldn’t live more than nine months after her surgery for pancreatic cancer.
Bunning quickly apologized.
Ginsburg said that more than 13 months after her surgery she was pleased to report she is alive and in good health, “contrary to Sen. Bunning’s prediction.”
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