Many have been critical of the Obama administration’s favoritism toward public over private jobs. Trillions have been shoveled into the insatiable maw of government service, while taxation and regulation have strangled private sector employment. However, a new edict from the Justice Department promises a significant boost to private sector workers–particularly lawyers.
Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice has decided not to defend various members of the previous administration–including Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld and aide Paul Wolfowitz--against repeated lawsuits by convicted al Qaeda terrorist Jose Padilla.
Padilla was arrested at Chicago’s O’hare Airport in 2002 and charged with conspiracy to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb," among other crimes. He was held as an enemy combatant by the United States Navy for 44 months, finally convicted in 2007 on evidence collected by the FBI over eight years, and received a 17-year sentence. From prison, he has filed suit against dozens of government officials, from Attorney General John Ashcroft to various unnamed prison guards. Padilla’s military incarceration was upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and his most recent lawsuit was dismissed in early 2011 by South Carolina U. S. District Judge Richard Gergel. Nevertheless, as the ACLU helps Padilla plan future lawsuits from behind bars, Obama’s Justice Department will not defend the Americans who performed their sworn duty to bring Padilla to justice.
Obma and Holder are selective in their betrayal of government officials. The DOJ will continue to zealously defend Obama Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. But members of the previous Bush administration will have to fund their own legal defenses against a convicted terrorist. This is their reward for serving and defending this country.
But there is a silver lining to this outrage. The decision to elbow out government officials from the federal legal umbrella is certain to result in a deluge of lawsuits from incarcerated terrorists. Those terrorists will have to be represented by lawyers from the private sector. No government funds will be required for this massive legal stimulus. In fact, withholding legal protection for Americans who honorably served their country will shave billions from the federal debt. And the Americans who are targeted by terrorist lawsuits will also have to hire lawyers for their own defense, providing further private sector revenue to private sector lawyers.
It seems likely that once the Obama administration realizes that the whole disgraceful program requires no government expenditure, Attorney General Holder will decide that convicted terrorists are entitled to federally-funded attorneys to process and pursue their lawsuits against the United States. This would be more in keeping with the pro-terrorist positions taken by the administration since its inception. But until then, private sector attorneys can anticipate plenty of new business, thanks to an administration that sympathizes with America’s enemies and punishes her defenders.
