On September 12, 2006, the Senate Judiciary Committee took testimony on the Thompson Memorandum. The hearing, which began at 9:30 a.m. EDT, included two panels of witnesses. As a part of the panel testimony, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty defending the use of the Thompson Memorandum. Testimony was also received from former Attorney General Edwin Meese, United States Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue, American Bar Association President Karen Mathis, former Enron Task Force head Andrew Weissmann, and criminal defense attorney Mark Sheppard. You can view the full text of the testimony at http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=2054.
Also of interest, in informal discussions with Department of Justice personnel (as well as private practitioners), the use of the Thompson Memorandum is not widely rejected. However, all agreed that the application of the Thompson Memorandum to specific facts in a case/investigation is the key to whether any other courts will denounce its future use.
See also, my August 17, 2006, post regarding the Thompson Memorandum.
More later.
As always, feel free to call me or e-mail me with any questions at walter.james@jamespllc.com.
WDJiii