The Rudy Giuliani for president campaign this afternoon unveiled its Justice Advisory Committee, which will be advising hizzoner’s campaign on issues of legal policy. It’s headed by former Solicitor General Ted (“no relation”) Olson, and boasts a really stellar array of practicing and academic law talent, including lawprofs Charles Fried, Steve Calabresi, George Priest, and Ronald Cass, former Southern District chief judge Michael Mukasey, and former Justice official Maureen Mahoney, among others. The full list is here (campaign site) or here (PowerLine).
And, yes, that’s my name on the list too. I try not to clutter the site overmuch with my personal candidate preferences, but I find the former NYC mayor to be the clear standout candidate in this year’s White House pack, despite my disagreements with a number of his stances in the past. Early interactions between the legal advisory committee and the candidate have further strengthened my confidence in the kind of leadership he’d provide in office.
That’s enough for the moment, but I just wanted to give readers fair warning and a chance to discount/make allowances in case I happen to mention the various candidates and their doings as the political season proceeds. (& welcome NRO “Bench Memos”, Andrew Sullivan, PowerLine, National Journal BlogoMeter readers. Also, here’s an op-ed by the candidate).
P.S. Newsday has a story interpreting the whole thing as a Supreme Court short-list (which would truly make me the odd man out) but doesn’t mention that most likely picks for the Court would be drawn from the ranks of sitting judges, whose names inevitably could not appear on a list like this.