Ann Woolner: Liz Cheney Would Call John Adams a Terrorists’ Pal
[Ann Woolner is a columnist for Bloomberg News.]
Liz Cheney, meet John Adams. Perhaps you have heard of him.
A Founding Father of our nation, he became America’s first vice president and its second president.
But before all that, back when he was practicing law in Boston, Adams did precisely what you say should disqualify lawyers from representing his country.
He defended the enemy. Charged with murder for the Boston massacre of 1770, let’s call his clients the Redcoat Nine.
Adams advocated for them so well that he persuaded a jury to acquit seven of the nine, including the captain charged with ordering the deadly shooting of rioting revolutionaries.
And he was proud of it. Adams would later call the episode “one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”
If he had done the modern-day version of that and then taken a job at the Justice Department, Liz Cheney would complain. She would say that shows the president and attorney general aren’t serious about defeating the enemy.
That’s what she says about Attorney General Eric Holder because he hired lawyers who represented Guantanamo Bay detainees in cases against the U.S. government....
These lawyers, like Adams, are aiding and abetting the American legal system. It works best when opposing sides have lawyers dedicated to capably advocating for their clients, however unpopular....
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Liz Cheney, meet John Adams. Perhaps you have heard of him.
A Founding Father of our nation, he became America’s first vice president and its second president.
But before all that, back when he was practicing law in Boston, Adams did precisely what you say should disqualify lawyers from representing his country.
He defended the enemy. Charged with murder for the Boston massacre of 1770, let’s call his clients the Redcoat Nine.
Adams advocated for them so well that he persuaded a jury to acquit seven of the nine, including the captain charged with ordering the deadly shooting of rioting revolutionaries.
And he was proud of it. Adams would later call the episode “one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”
If he had done the modern-day version of that and then taken a job at the Justice Department, Liz Cheney would complain. She would say that shows the president and attorney general aren’t serious about defeating the enemy.
That’s what she says about Attorney General Eric Holder because he hired lawyers who represented Guantanamo Bay detainees in cases against the U.S. government....
These lawyers, like Adams, are aiding and abetting the American legal system. It works best when opposing sides have lawyers dedicated to capably advocating for their clients, however unpopular....