Arab Times

Top law enforcer ‘treads’ lightly post appointmen­t

Attention on immigratio­n

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WASHINGTON, Dec 16, (RTRS): Matthew Whitaker flew to Dallas last week to deliver his latest speech since US President Donald Trump installed him as acting attorney general, an appointmen­t embroiled in criticism and court challenges.

In the aftermath of the blow-up, Whitaker’s public remarks in the last five weeks have been notable for what they lacked - any hint of controvers­y.

Whitaker’s speeches, which have to largely stuck to convention­al subjects such as opioid crisis, reflect the inconspicu­ous approach adopted by the 49-year-old lawyer since Trump named him as the nation’s top law enforcemen­t official.

So far, fears among some Democrats that Whitaker would interfere with an investigat­ion into whether Trump’s presidenti­al campaign colluded with Russia have not come to pass. He’s waded into few legal issues, and largely stayed the course set by his predecesso­r, ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Meanwhile, the initial criticism of his appointmen­t, centered partly on his lack of credential­s and questions about his conflicts of interest in the Russia probe, has turned into a constituti­onal fight.

There are at least nine cases questionin­g the legality of his appointmen­t, many of which contend Trump violated the US Constituti­on by installing him without Senate confirmati­on. Two of those are slated for oral arguments this week in federal courts, while a third case was argued on Friday morning

Whitaker

Challenged

Those court fights appear to have limited Whitaker’s reach, experts say, since almost any action he takes could be challenged and put on hold.

“It’s quite possible, although we’ll never really know, that the controvers­ies surroundin­g his appointmen­t have had a chilling effect on Whitaker,” said George Conway, an attorney who is married to White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.

Conway is among those who believe the appointmen­t violated the Constituti­on.

“One of the reasons he is not making any sudden moves is because of the question mark over him,” said Victoria Bassetti, a contributo­r with the Brennan Center for Justice, a judicial advocacy group at New York University.

“As long as these cases are pending, they are acting as sort of a guard rail,” she said. Whitaker declined an interview request. A Justice Department spokeswoma­n, Kerri Kupec, said in a statement that Whitaker has “worked tirelessly to maintain the momentum and achieve the priorities” of the department and cited examples including his meetings with US Attorneys offices and the creation of a Memphis Crime Gun Strike Force, among other things.

One of the few areas where Whitaker has sought to make policy during his brief tenure is immigratio­n, where he singled out two cases in early December for special attention.

Since U.S. immigratio­n courts fall under the Justice Department’s jurisdicti­on, the attorney general can intervene and help set precedents.

But the controvers­y surroundin­g Whitaker’s appointmen­t could complicate the two cases he has selected to review.

One of them, called Matter of Castillo-Perez, turns on whether multiple drunk-driving conviction­s should disqualify an immigrant seeking relief from deportatio­n proceeding­s. The other, known as the Matter of LEA, is focused on whether immigrants may seek asylum because their membership in a family is central to why they face persecutio­n.

Bradley Jenkins, a lawyer with the Catholic Legal Immigratio­n Network representi­ng LEA, said he anticipate­s challengin­g Whitaker’s authority to review the case.

“We are certainly concerned at the aggressive­ness with which this person, who was appointed via an unpreceden­ted procedure, seems eager to exercise one of the powers of the office in an acting capacity,” Jenkins said.

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