Ex-Deputy AG Pushed for Supreme Court Consideration

Some White House officials are pushing a new name for inclusion on President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court short list: James Comey, a former deputy attorney general who opposed the Bush administration’s legal tactics in the war on terrorism.

Comey, who was deputy attorney general from 2003 to 2005, has law-and-order credentials but backs limits on government power, Politico reports. He left to become senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Comey threatened to resign over the administration’s domestic wiretap program and warned that legal opinions approving harsh interrogation techniques would prove to be an embarrassment.