Friday, March 29, 2024

Jeh Johnson confirmed as head of Homeland Security – the 1st African American

Jeh Johnson, first African American appointed to serve as Homeland Security Secretary.
Jeh Johnson, first African American appointed to serve as Homeland Security Secretary.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Jeh Johnson as the fourth Homeland Security Secretary by a vote of 78-16, the first African American to hold the position.

STOP and think about that for a minute:

  • President of the United States – Black man
  • U.S. Justice Department – Black man
  • Homeland Security Secretary – Black man

Will African Americans finally begin to see fair and balanced justice?

From Johnson’s law firm’s bio page:

Jeh Johnson’s career has been a mixture of successful private law practice and distinguished public service. In private practice, Mr. Johnson is a nationally recognized trial lawyer, having personally tried some of the highest stakes commercial cases of recent years. At age 47, he was elected a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. In public service, Mr. Johnson was appointed by President Obama to serve as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense (2009-2012), by President Clinton to serve as General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force (1998-2001), and he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York (1989-1991).

EXPERIENCE

As General Counsel of the Defense Department in President Obama’s first term, Mr. Johnson was the senior lawyer for the largest government agency in the world, responsible for the legal work of more than  10,000 military and civilian lawyers.  With the nation in armed conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, and against al-Qaeda during his tenure, Mr. Johnson was responsible for the prior legal review and approval of every military operation approved by the President and Secretary of Defense. Mr. Johnson is credited with spear-heading reforms to the military commissions system at Guantanamo Bay adopted by the Congress in 2009,  and co-authoring the 250-page report that paved the way for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by the Congress in 2010. The report was hailed by the Washington Post editorial page as a remarkable document for its “honest, thorough and respectful handling of a delicate subject.”  Mr. Johnson’s November 2012 address at the Oxford Union in England, “The Conflict Against al-Qaeda and Its Affiliates: How Will It End?,” received national and international press attention and wide editorial acclaim.

In private practice in 1984-1988, 1992-1998, 2001-2008 and now, Mr. Johnson has been a Paul Weiss litigator and civil and criminal trial lawyer.  His career as a trial lawyer began when he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney.  In three years as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Johnson tried 12 jury cases and argued 11 appeals before the Second Circuit. Building on that experience, Mr. Johnson has continued to try significant civil and criminal cases in private practice.

Significant representations include:

  • Citigroup in defense of a $900 million arbitration claim, one of the largest ever filed with the NASD. Mr. Johnson tried the case in Denver over three weeks, after which the arbitrators dismissed all claims in their entirety. The  significant victory was reported in The Wall Street Journal.

  • Salomon Smith Barney in defense of an $86 million arbitration claim. This NASD arbitration was tried in New York over 25 days, after which the arbitrators dismissed all claims in their entirety.

  • Songwriters and music publishers in multi-week trial proceedings before the Copyright Royalty Judges in Washington, D.C. to set mechanical royalty rates for the music industry.

  • Armstrong World Industries in a four-month jury trial of an antitrust case in federal court in Newark. The first trial of the case, by another law firm, resulted in a $220 million verdict against Armstrong. The court then granted a motion for a new trial. Mr. Johnson and his colleagues retried the case and obtained a defense verdict from the jury.

  • In a one-month AAA commercial arbitration in Washington, D.C., after which his corporate client received an award of $33 million. All claims of the adversary were dismissed in their entirety.

  • One of the largest commercial banks in the world in a nine-week jury trial in New York state court; the jury verdict for the plaintiff was a small fraction of the $30 million sought.

  • R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in a one-month case in San Diego in a suit brought by the California Attorney General concerning the company’s advertising practices in the state.

  • Gillette in the famed “razor wars” patent infringement case against Energizer (Schick), before a federal jury in Boston. The case settled on the eve of trial.

2 COMMENTS

  1. It looks like Johnson has done some things in the corporate world. But what has he done for “the people”? Is he the kind of person who will put folk in concentration camps for demonstrating against the government? Does he favor the monitoring of our phone lines and email? Will he speak up for or against freedom fighters?

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