Debo Adegbile, un avocat avis\u00e9 et un juriste d'une int\u00e9grit\u00e9 irr\u00e9prochable, a perdu mercredi sa candidature \u00e0 la confirmation du S\u00e9nat pour occuper le poste de chef de la division des droits civiques du minist\u00e8re de la Justice.<\/p>
The 45-52 vote was cast in news accounts as an embarrassing defeat for President Obama, who saw seven Democratic senators join with the Republican minority to block Adegbile's confirmation.<\/p>
Les v\u00e9ritables perdants pourraient bien \u00eatre les \u00e9lecteurs am\u00e9ricains. Alors que les l\u00e9gislateurs d\u2019\u00c9tats de la plupart des \u00c9tats am\u00e9ricains envisagent de nouvelles restrictions au droit de vote \u00e0 l\u2019approche d\u2019\u00e9lections l\u00e9gislatives tr\u00e8s disput\u00e9es, le minist\u00e8re de la Justice a d\u00e9sesp\u00e9r\u00e9ment besoin d\u2019un leadership fort dans son domaine des droits civiques. Les avocats devraient constituer une premi\u00e8re ligne de d\u00e9fense essentielle contre la vague de lois sur l\u2019identification des \u00e9lecteurs qui rendraient plus difficile le vote de dizaines de milliers d\u2019\u00e9tudiants, de personnes \u00e2g\u00e9es et de personnes handicap\u00e9es.<\/p>
In the right hands, the civil rights division also could provide the administration with a splendid platform to make its case for action in Congress to overhaul the Voting Rights Act and undo damage done by last summer's Supreme Court ruling weakening that law's \"pre-clearance provisions.<\/p>
Etant donn\u00e9 la lenteur avec laquelle se d\u00e9roulent les affaires du Capitole ces derniers temps, il faudra probablement des semaines, voire des mois, \u00e0 l\u2019administration pour trouver et s\u00e9lectionner un nouveau candidat. Le S\u00e9nat aura probablement besoin de plus de temps encore pour proc\u00e9der aux auditions des commissions et voter sur celui qu\u2019Obama choisira. En r\u00e9sum\u00e9, il est peu probable que le nouveau chef de la police charg\u00e9 de faire respecter nos lois sur les droits civiques soit sur le terrain assez t\u00f4t pour prot\u00e9ger les \u00e9lecteurs avant le jour du scrutin.<\/p>
All that's bad enough. But there's another unsettling dimension to this story. Critics of Adegbile's nomination did not challenge his legal or ethical qualifications. Their stated objections revolved around the small part he played 30-plus years ago in the legal defense of a man ultimately convicted of murdering a Philadelphia police officer.<\/p>
To go after a lawyer on such grounds is to attack a principle at the heart of our legal system: that every person charged with a crime -- no matter how heinous -- is entitled to vigorous representation.<\/p>
No less a legal icon than Chief Justice John Roberts, a law-and-order conservative if I've ever seen one, has stood up for that principle. Before going on the bench, Roberts was involved in the defense of a Florida man now on death row for murdering eight people. No one suggested that made him unfit to serve.<\/p>
Now, with Adegbile, a different standard of review may be taking hold, with ominous implications for American justice. If we start disqualifying from government service every lawyer who has represented a guilty client or stood up in court for an unpopular cause, the quality of candidates in the talent pool won't just suffer, it will disappear.<\/p>"}}]},"yoast_head":"\n