The Senate just confirmed, by voice vote, Virginia Seitz as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. The Office has had a confirmed AAG for less than three of the past 15 years, and not since 2004 [UPDATE: John Elwood calculates that it's been 2524 days -- and who am I differ?]. My friends David Barron, Jonathan Cedarbaum and Caroline Krass have served with the greatest distinction and dedication as acting heads of the Office over the past two years. Nevertheless, completion of the constitutional process is long overdue.
Virginia is an old colleague and friend of mine. I can attest with the greatest confidence that she -- like Dawn Johnsen, who should have been afforded a Senate vote two years ago -- is a person and attorney of impeccable integrity, with superlative judgment and deep devotion to the best traditions and practices of the Office, in addition to being simply one of the finest lawyers around, by universal acclamation (see letters here). She is a perfect fit, and joins an extraordinary group of career and appointed lawyers currently at OLC. (I'm biased.) The Office, the Department and the President will benefit enormously from her service.