Ad Attacks Michigan Supreme Court Candidate for Helping 'Free a Terrorist'
A political ad sponsored by a group called the Judicial Crisis Network is criticizing a candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court with an allegation that she “volunteered to help free a terrorist.”
The ad targets University of Michigan law professor Bridget McCormack. She is described as a lawyer fighting for justice in a video featuring several cast members of the West Wing, including McCormack’s sister, Mary McCormack, who played deputy national security adviser Kate Harper on the TV show.
The attack ad has a different assessment, according to the New York Times blog Taking Note. The ad features the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. “My son is a hero and fought to protect us,” the mother says. “Bridget McCormack volunteered to help free a terrorist. How could you?”
Taking Note disputes that claim. McCormack volunteered for the Center for Constitutional rights, which coordinated efforts by U.S. lawyers to represent Guantanamo detainees. McCormack represented a detainee released from Guantanamo in 2007 under a military tribunal ruling.
“Without that legal representation,” Taking Note says, “there can be no justice, no system of democratic values to defend against terrorism. An attack on lawyers willing to defend Guantanamo detainees is an attack on that system. Those lawyers aren’t helping our enemies; they’re deeply patriotic.”
