Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Congressional Research Service said Monday that it will not reinstate one of its assistant directors, a former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who was dismissed for writings critical of the Obama administration's detention policies.
The general counsel for the Library of Congress, which houses CRS, said in a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis, "We maintain that the removal of Mr. Davis is justified."
The letter cited a failure "to adhere to the CRS policy on Outside Speaking and Writing" and noted that CRS is charged with providing "objective and non-partisan research and analysis to Congress."
In a November article in the Wall Street Journal, Davis said Attorney General Eric H. Holder's decision to send some detainees to federal court for trial while keeping others in military commissions established a "dangerous legal double standard." In a letter to The Washington Post, Davis also sharply criticized former attorney general Michael B. Mukasey.
The ACLU said that the library violated Davis's free speech rights and that it will now file a lawsuit on his behalf.
"We're heading to court," Davis said Monday.
"I would have preferred to avoid it, but that's what we've got to do."
Davis said he was writing in his personal capacity and neither the article nor the letter identified him as a CRS employee.
-- Peter Finn
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