William J. Haynes, II

William J. "Jim" Haynes II (born March 30, 1958 in Waco, Texas) is an American lawyer, and former General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense during president George W. Bush's administration. Haynes resigned as General Counsel in February 2008.

Haynes graduated from Davidson College and Harvard Law School. He has been General Counsel of the Department of the Army, a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block, and an associate general counsel of General Dynamics Corporation.

In 2006, Haynes was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia. His nomination drew strong opposition from Democrats and even from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.cite news
title=Conservatives' Grip on Key Virginia Court Is at Risk
author=Jerry Markon, Michael D. Shear
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121701127_2.html
publisher=Washington Post
date= December 18 2006
accessdate=2007-05-08] In January 2007, Haynes announced that he would withdraw from consideration for nomination to the Court of Appeals. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Judicial-Withdrawal.html?hp&ex=1168405200&en=909acae6f726aea8&ei=5094&partner=homepage New York Times] , January 10 2007]

Opposition to U.S. servicemembers accessing Supreme Court

A front page article in the "Los Angeles Daily Journal" reported that Haynes opposed giving members of the U.S. Armed Forces access to the Supreme Court if they are court-martialled. In 2005 he wrote letters to Congress opposing the "Equal Justice for Our Military Act", which was pending in the 109th Congress. Haynes opined that "there is no apparent justification to modify the current review process, thereby increasing the burden upon the Supreme Court and counsel to address the myriad of matters that would be encountered with expanded certiorari jurisdiction." ["Momentum Grows for Opening High Court to Servicemembers" by Laura Ernde, "Los Angeles Daily Journal", July 17, 2007, front page] A year later Navy veteran Norbert Basil MacLean III lobbied law makers with twenty-two years of military justice statistics showing that 90 percent of all court-martial servicemembers are completely shut out of seeking Supreme Court review. [Legislative Research Incorporated, "The Military Justice System: 1983-84 Through 2004-05: Twenty-two Years of Key Statistical Findings" (March 30, 2006) Preface by Norbert Basil MacLean III, presented to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, Judiciary Committees of the 109th Congress and to the Clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.] Senators Dianne Feinstein and Arlen Specter then introduced bipartisan legislation, the "Equal Justice for United States Military Personnel Act of 2007" in the Senate. In August 2006, the American Bar Association issued a report and passed a resolution urging Congress to give servicemembers Supreme Court access. [ [http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/policy/am06116.pdf American Bar Association Resolution 116] , adopted by ABA House of Delegates on August 7-8, 2006] A 2002 "Army Times" editorial was critical of the Department of Defense trying to undercut servicemembers from accessing the federal courts. [ [http://www.armytimes.com/legacy/new/0-ARMYPAPER-406877.php EDITORIAL: Equal rights for soldiers] , Army Times, 2002] That failed proposal was submitted to Congress by Haynes.

Role in helping develop the use of "extended interrogation techniques"

On July 7 2004 The United States Navy's General Counsel, Alberto J. Mora responded to a request from Albert Church, the Navy's Inspector General for information about the role his office played inthe development of questionable interrogation techniques.cite web
url=http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/safefree/mora_memo_july_2004.pdf
title=Memorandum from Navy General Counsel Alberto J. Mora to Navy Inspector General
date=July 7, 2004
author=Alberto J. Mora
publisher=United States Navy
accessdate=May 5
accessyear=2007
format=PDF] Mora's narrative described learning, from
David Brant, the Director of NCIS, that questionable interrogationtechniques were being practiced in Guantanamo.Mora described immediately calling meetings of the Navy's most senior legal staff, who all concurred the techniques were questionable and dangerous.

According to Mora's narrative, he met with Haynes on December 20 2002, January 9, 2003, and January 15, 2003. Mora described being surprised to learn, when he returnedfrom his vacation, that the questionable interrogation techniques had not been rescinded.

In his comments about the January 15 2003 meeting Mora recorded: quotation|"In the later meeting, which Mr. Dell'Orto attended, Mr Haynes returned the draft memo to me. He asked whether I was not aware about how he felt about the issues or the impact of my actions. I responded that I did not and, with respect to his own views, I had no idea whether he agreed totally with my arguments, disagreed totally with them, or held an intermediate view"

War Crimes Prosecution

In November, 2006, the German government received a complaint seeking the prosecution of Mr. Haynes for alleged war crimes. The complaint alleges that during his tenure, he was legally responsible for the US torture programs. The charges have since been withdrawn due to a lack of substantial evidence. cite web
url=http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/german-war-crimes-complaint-against-donald-rumsfeld%2C-et-al
title=Criminal Complaint
publisher=Center for Constitutional Rights
accessdate=May 8
accessyear=2007]

The plaintiff's legal strategy for the prosecution of Mr. Haynes and his co-defendant lawyers is to attempt to use the precedent of the Nuremberg trials, where German jurists whose legal work was complicit in Nazi atrocities were prosecuted. cite web
url=http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/03/NMT03-T0985.htm
title=Nuernberg Military Tribunal: Volume III · Page 985
accessdate=May 8
accessyear=2007]

Guantanamo trials

Morris Davis, a former chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions, spoke out about his instructions from Haynes in late February 2008.cite news
url=http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=4aff5546-c852-4e5e-93bf-7c2cc68687fa&k=13379
title=Head of Guantanamo trials resigns
publisher=Edmonton Journal
author=Steven Edwards
date= February 25, 2008
accessdate=2008-02-25
quote=The Pentagon official overseeing the planned military trials of Canadian Omar Khadr and other terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba resigned Monday - just days after a published report alleged he'd insisted there be no acquittals.] The "Edmonton Journal" quoted an interview Davis provided "The Nation":

Resignation

In February 2008, Haynes resigned from his position as the Defense Department's general counsel. [cite news | title = DOD general counsel Haynes announces resignation | author = David Frueh | publisher = Jurist | date = February 25, 2008 | url = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/02/dod-general-counsel-announces.php] He started his new job as the Chief Corporate Counsel at the Chevron Corporate Office in San Ramon, CA on April 28, 2008.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/gc/gcbio.html Department of Defense official biography]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/haynesresume.htm Department of Justice resume]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Judicial-Withdrawal.html?hp&ex=1168405200&en=909acae6f726aea8&ei=5094&partner=homepage "Four Judicial Nominees Ask to Withdraw", New York Times, Jan. 9, 2007]