Peter Keisler, the New Acting Attorney General
President Bush appointed Peter Keisler today as acting Attorney General. He replaces Paul Clement who will return to his duties as Solicitor General. Keisler announced his resignation as head of the civil division at the Department of Justice on September 6, a resignation which would take effect on September 21. Bush had nominated Keisler to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but the Senate has not acted to confirm the nomination.
The professional history of Justice Department political appointee Peter Keisler includes a prior nomination to the Fourth Circuit, which was withdrawn after being blocked by both Senators from Maryland. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and others have complained that the Judiciary Committee has received insufficient background materials on his nomination, currently omitting documentation of Keisler's Reagan-era work on arms sales, aid to Nicaraguan revolutionaries, and signing statements. " Keisler was described by Legal Times as "a well-connected Republican foot soldier during the 1980s and an acolyte of ultraconservative ex-D.C. Circuit Judge Robert Bork." Since joining the Justice Department more recently, he approved the government's unilateral concession of $120 billion in penalties previously sought from the tobacco industry, for which he has been publicly criticized by career lawyers in the Department.