Paul D. Clement

Paul D. Clement, the interim replacement for the departing Alberto Gonzales, has put Cedarburg on the map.

Well, not really.

Outside of Cedarburg, no one cares where Clement grew up.

Clement's DOJ bio

Paul D. Clement is the 43rd Solicitor General of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on March 14, 2005, confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 2005, and took the oath of office on June 13, 2005.

Mr. Clement is a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and a graduate of the Cedarburg public schools. He received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was the Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Following graduation, Mr. Clement clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. After his clerkships, he worked as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis. Mr. Clement went on to serve as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights. Afterwards, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of King & Spalding, where he headed the firm’s appellate practice. Mr. Clement also served from 1998 to 2004 as an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught a seminar on the separation of powers.

Mr. Clement joined the Department of Justice in February of 2001. Before his confirmation as Solicitor General, he served as Acting Solicitor General for nearly a year and as Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He has argued over 40 cases before the United States Supreme Court, including McConnell v. FEC, Tennessee v. Lane, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, United States v. Booker and Gonzales v. Raich. He also argued many of the key cases in the lower courts involving challenges to the President’s conduct of the war on terrorism.

Impressive.

TIME claims to know why Alberto Gonzales finally caved.

Of course, it's Karl Rove. When Rove left, so did Gonzales' protector.

Yeah, whatever.

Are the Dems popping champagne corks over the departure of Gonzales?

Of course.

Score another victory for them in their war against the Bush administration.

Read President Bush's complete statement.

After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

I've asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as Acting Attorney General upon Alberto Gonzales's departure and until a nominee has been confirmed by the Senate. He's agreed to do so. Paul is one of the finest lawyers in America. As Solicitor General, Paul has developed a reputation for excellence and fairness, and earned the respect and confidence of the entire Justice Department.

Read what the embarrassment from Wisconsin, Sen. Russ Feingold, has to say:

“Attorney General Gonzales’ tenure was marked by unprecedented politicization of the Department of Justice, deception of Congress and the American people, and disrespect for the rule of law. He should never have been confirmed and should have resigned long ago. The first loyalty of the next attorney general must be to the law, not the president.”

What?

No mention of Gonzales being the first Hispanic attorney general the U.S. has ever had?

What will Feingold do without Gonzales to kick around?

Read what Sen. Herb Kohl has to say:

Sorry. No statement is available on Kohl's website.

However, someone did wake up Kohl to tell him that Gonzales is resigning.

From the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

"It is essential that his successor have more independence from the White House and always put the rule of law before politics," Kohl said.

Kohl said Gonzales had lost the confidence of Congress and the public because of the apparent politicization of hiring and firing U.S. attorneys and the his role in a controversial wiretapping program critics argue violates civil liberties in the United States.

And on Paul Clement:

Paul Clement, who will serve as interim attorney general, is a meticulous, affable conservative with friends across the political spectrum.

As solicitor general, Clement holds the fourth-ranking position at the Justice Department. He was asked by Bush to head the agency until a new attorney general is nominated, then confirmed by the Senate.

With the resignation of Gonzales, as well as earlier departures of the next two officials in line, Clement is the Justice Department’s highest-ranking official who has been confirmed by the Senate.

In his current post, Clement is the administration’s top lawyer at the Supreme Court. He regularly argues the most important cases that come before the court, defending Bush’s anti-terrorism program as well as federal laws imposing limits on abortion and campaign fundraising.

Clement, 41, has worked for former Attorney General John Ashcroft and Justice Antonin Scalia, stalwarts of the right in American politics and law. He once belonged to the conservative Federalist Society and continues to speak often at its events.

Yet Feingold has been among Clement’s biggest boosters, principally because of Clement’s Supreme Court defense of the landmark campaign finance law that Feingold co-authored. Clement is a native of Cedarburg.

Clement defended McCain-Feingold.

Wonderful.