Professor still under review for legal counsel

Confirmation hearings began Wednesday to appoint IU Law Professor Dawn Johnsen as the U.S. associate attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

IU School of Law Dean Lauren Robel said the judiciary committee has one week to make a recommendation to the Senate.

President Barack Obama nominated Johnsen for the position in January. Johnsen came to IU in 1998 after working in the U.S. Department of Justice for five years during Bill Clinton’s administration.

As a professor, she regularly taught classes about constitutional law and the First Amendment.

Elizabeth Bonney, a second-year law student, was in Johnsen’s constitutional law class last year and said Johnsen was committed to making sure her students had a solid understanding of the law.

The hearing was shown through a live webcast in the Moot Court Room at the Maurer IU School of Law. Bonney watched the hearing there and said Johnsen did a great job answering questions, and her commitment to law was obvious.

Before working for the Clinton administration, Johnsen worked for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League as legal director and at the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project.

Johnsen is a member of the national board of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and is a co-chairperson of the American Constitution Society Issue Group on Separation of Powers and Federalism.