Ex-WilmerHale Partner OK’d for No. 2 at DOJ, Despite Past Porn Clients

The Senate has confirmed former WilmerHale partner David Ogden to be deputy attorney general, despite some controversy over his past representation of clients such as Playboy and a company that distributes adult mail-order products.

During his confirmation hearing, Ogden noted that he “vigorously defended” the constitutionality of child pornography statutes when he worked as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, the Wall Street Journal reports. “I am strongly committed to fighting child pornography and protecting children from abuse,” he said.

But the Family Research Council had objected to Ogden’s work for what it termed “a long line of porn companies,” the story says.

Most of Ogden's First Amendment work took place two decades ago, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. At WilmerHale, Ogden’s clients were more likely to be major companies such as Shell Oil Co.

The vote for Ogden was 65 to 28.

The Senate has also confirmed Thomas Perrelli, the former managing partner of Jenner & Block’s Washington, D.C., office, as associate attorney general, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, in a separate story.