Mr. President, I have sought recognition to speak on behalf of Dean Harold Koh, dean of the Yale Law School, for confirmation to the position of Legal Adviser to the Department of State. I know Dean…
Mr. President, I have sought recognition to speak on behalf of Dean Harold Koh, dean of the Yale Law School, for confirmation to the position of Legal Adviser to the Department of State. I know Dean Koh personally. I have known him for more than a decade while he has taught at Yale and been the dean of the Yale Law School. He spoke at a class reunion. I was in the Yale Law School class of 1956 and hosted a reunion here in the Capitol on June 6, 2008. He was greeted by a number of prominent Members of the Senate at that time. I make these comments about my personal association with him in the interest of full disclosure, but the thrust of my recommendation is based upon his extraordinary record.
Harold Koh graduated from Harvard College, also Harvard Law School. He graduated Harvard College summa cum laude in 1975. He was Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, where he got a master's degree in 1977. He graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1980, where he was developments editor of the Harvard Law Review. He then clerked for Judge Richard Wilkey in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, then for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. He then worked as a lawyer with the distinguished Washington firm Covington & Burling and then as Attorney-Adviser in the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel. He then served in the Clinton administration as Assistant Secretary of State, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, and served there from 1998 to 2001 when he returned to the Yale Law School, becoming its dean some 5 years ago.
He comes from a very distinguished family. His father was the first Korean lawyer to study in the United States. He attended Harvard Law in 1949. He was then counsel for--the father, that is--for the first Korean democratic government. When a military coup occurred, he left that position. He was the first Korean to teach at the Yale Law School in 1969.
Dean Koh has an extraordinary record. His curriculum vitae fills 8 pages of very small print. He has a long list of honorary degrees. He received a number of medals. His list of honors and awards goes on virtually indefinitely; his publications, books, and monographs occupy six and a half pages; his selected legal activities, another half a page; lectures that he performed, many; teaching activities, voluminous; boards of editors, professional affiliations, presentations, workshops, boards, bars, member of the bars with which he is associated.
I ask unanimous consent to have this full text printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
It is going to be extensive, but it is worth it. I have been a Member of this body for some time. I have never seen anyone with this kind of a resume. And I am going to ask Senator Byrd the next time I see him if he knows of anybody who has a resume which is this extensive and this impressive.
When you characterize the best and the brightest, Harold Koh would be at the top of the list. It would be hard to find anybody with a better record than Dean Harold Koh. His experience in international law is extensive, as in human rights. He would be an ideal Legal Adviser to the Department of State with his background and his experience. He has judgment, and he has balance. From my personal knowledge, I have total confidence that he will apply his legal knowledge and his background in a wise and sagacious way. He testified before the Judiciary Committee when I chaired the committee and in every way is exemplary.
It is a little surprising to me that it is necessary to have a cloture vote, to have 60 votes to take up the nomination of Dean Koh. But considering the politics of Washington and considering the politics of the Senate, perhaps we should not be surprised at anything. But having a very high surprise threshold, I say that I am surprised Dean Koh would require 60 votes to reach a confirmation vote. I urge anybody who has any doubts about the caliber of this man to get out their glasses, or you may need a magnifying glass to read all of his accomplishments. But certainly it would be a travesty if a man such as this was not confirmed.
In an era where we are trying so hard to bring quality people into government and so many people shun government because of the hoops and hurdles someone has to go through--Dean Koh would be exhibit A of the hoops and hurdles--it would be very discouraging for anybody else applying for a position which requires Senate confirmation. As strongly as I can, I urge his confirmation.
Exhibit 1
Yale Law School
Employment
2004: Dean of Yale Law School
1993: Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of
International Law, Yale Law School (Procedure, International
Human Rights, International Business Transactions,
Constitution and Foreign Affairs, International Trade,
International Organizations, International Law and Political
Science)
1998-2001: Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor United States Department of State;
Commissioner, Commission for Security and Cooperation in
Europe; U.S. Delegate or Head of Delegation to United Nations
General Assembly (Third Committee), the United Nations Human
Rights Commission, the Organization of American States, the
Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, the U.N. Committee Against Torture,
Inaugural Community of Democracies Meeting (Warsaw 2000);
U.N. Conference on New and Restored Democracies (Cotonou,
Benin 2000)
1993-1998: Director, Orville H. Schell Jr., Center for
International Human Rights, Yale Law School
1996-97: Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford
University and Waynflete Lecturer, Magdalen College, Oxford
University
1993: Visiting Professor, Hague Academy of International
Law
1990-93: Professor, Yale Law School
1990, 2002: Visiting Professor of International Law,
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto (intensive courses in
international business and human rights law)
1985-90: Associate Professor, Yale Law School
1983-85: Attorney-Adviser, Office of Legal Counsel, United
States Department of Justice
1982-85: Adjunct Assistant Professorial Lecturer in Law,
George Washington University National Law Center
1982-83: Associate, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
1981-82: Law Clerk to Hon. Harry A. Blackmun, Associate
Justice, United States Supreme Court
1980-81: Law Clerk to Hon. Malcolm Richard Wilkey, Circuit
Judge, United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
1978-79: Teaching Fellow, First-Year Legal Methods Program,
Harvard Law School (Contracts and Civil Procedure)
Degrees
1980: Harvard Law School, J.D. cum laude
Developments Editor, Harvard Law Review; Tutor, Mather
House, Harvard College
1977: Magdalen College, Oxford University, Honours B.A. in
Philosophy, Politics & Economics with First-Class Honours;
(M.A. 1996); Marshall Scholar; Magdalen College Underhill
Exhibitioner; President, Magdalen College Middle Common Room
1975: Harvard College, Harvard University A.B. in
Government, Summa Cum Laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Harvard National
Scholar; Charles Bonaparte Scholar (Outstanding Junior
Government Major); Harvard Club of Southern Connecticut
Distinguished Senior; National Merit Scholar; State of
Connecticut Scholar
Honorary Degrees
2009: New School for Social Research
2008: Iona College
2008: Jewish Theological Seminary
2005: University of Hartford
2005: Widener School of Law
2002: Doctor of Laws, Skidmore College
2001: Doctor of Laws, Connecticut College
2000: Doctor of Laws, University of Connecticut; Doctor of
Humane Letters, Dickinson College
1999: Doctor of Laws, Suffolk Law School; Doctor of Humane
Letters, Albertus Magnus College
1998: Doctor of Laws, CUNY-Queens Law School
1990: M.A., Yale University
Medals
2008: Western New England School of Law
2004: Presidential Medal, Central Connecticut State College
2000: Villanova Medal, Villanova Law School
2000: Arthur J. Goldberg Award, Jacob Fuchsberg Law Center,
Touro Law School
Other Honors and Awards
2008: Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award, given for
outstanding contribution to global justice by the Center for
Justice and Accountability, San Francisco 7th Annual Sengbe
Pieh Award, First and Summerfield United Methodist Church
IRIS Human Rights Award
2007: Green Bag Award for ``exemplary writing in a long
article'' Green Bag Almanac and Reader (2007)
2007, 8, 9 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America
2007-08: Connecticut Bar Association Young Lawyers Section
Diversity Award
2007: Pacific Islander, Asian, and Native American (PANA)
Distinguished Service Award
2006: Philip Burton Award for Advocacy, Immigrant Legal
Resource Center
2006: Boston College 75th Anniversary Celebration Law
School's Distinguished Service Award
Asian American Bar Association of New York Award
The Asian American Law Students Association (Pace Law
School) Award of Distinction
2006: Named one of the Top Connecticut Super Lawyers by
Connecticut Magazine (International Law)
2005: Louis B. Sohn Award, given by the International Law
Section of the American Society of International Law for
Lifetime Achievement in International Law
2005: Equal Access to Justice Award, New Haven Legal
Assistance
2005: Allies for Justice Award
ABA National Lesbian and Gay Law Association
100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the 1990s, A
Magazine
2002: Wolfgang Friedmann Award, given by Columbia Journal
of Transnational Law ``to an individual who has made
outstanding contributions to the field of international law''
2002: Connecticut Bar Association Distinguished Public
Service Award
2002: John Quincy Adams Freedom Award, Amistad America
2001: Korean American Coalition Public Service Award
2000: Institute for Corean-American Studies Liberty Award
1999; 1994: FACE (Facts About Cuban Exiles) Excellence
Award
1997: Public Sector 45'' (45 leading American Public Sector
Lawyers Under the Age of 45), American Lawyer Magazine
1997: Named one of nation's leading Asian-American
Educators, Avenue Asia Magazine
Asian-American Lawyer of the Year, Asian-American Bar
Association of New York
1995: Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, Trial Lawyers for
Public Justice (co-recipient)
1994: Cuban-American Bar Association
1994: Political Asylum Immigration Representation Project
1994: Asian-American Lawyers of Massachusetts
1994: Haiti 2004
1994: Korean-American Alliance
1993: Asian Law Caucus
1993: Asian-American Legal Defense & Education Fund,
Justice in Action Award
1992: Co-recipient, American Immigration Lawyers'
Association Human Rights Award
1991: Richard E. Neustadt Award, Presidency Research
Section, American Political Science Association
Fellowships
Fellow, American Philosophical Society (2007-); Honorary
Fellow, Magdalen College (2002-); Fellow, American Academy of
Arts and Sciences (2000-); Guggenheim Fellow (1996-97);
Twentieth Century Fund Fellow (1996-), Visiting Fellow, All
Souls College, Oxford (1996-97); James Cooper Lifetime
Fellow, Connecticut Bar Association (2006-)
Publications
Books and Monographs
Transnational Litigation in United States Courts (2008)
(Foundation Press)
Transnational Business Problems (4th ed. 2008) (Foundation
Press), with Detlev F. Vagts & William S. Dodge
Foundations of International Law and Politics (with Oona A.
Hathaway)
The International Human Rights of Persons with Intellectual
Disabilities: Different but Equal (Oxford University Press
2002) (with Stanley Herr and Lawrence Gostin, eds)
Deliberative Democracy and Human Rights (with Ronald C.
Slye) (Yale University Press 1999) (translated into Spanish)
International Business Transactions in United States
Courts, Recueil des Cours (Martinus Nijhoff 1998) (Monograph
of Lectures in Private International Law at The Hague Academy
of International Law)
Transnational Legal Problems (with Henry Steiner & Detlev
Vagts) (Foundation Press 4th ed. 1994) and Documentary
Supplement (1994)
The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power After the
Iran-Contra Affair (Yale University Press 1990) (Winner,
Richard E. Neustadt Award, awarded by the Presidency Research
Section, American Political Science Association, to the best
book published in 1990 that contributed most to research and
scholarship on the American Presidency)
Justice Harry A. Blackmun Supreme Court Oral History
Project, Federal Judicial Center/Supreme Court Historical
Society (Editor 1996) (public release 2004)
Articles and Book Chapters
Commentary in Michael W. Doyle, Striking First: Preemption
and Prevention in International Conflict 99 (2008)
Human Rights and National Security: Chapter in Mark Green,
et al., eds, Change for America: Progressive Blueprint for
the Next Administration (2008)
Keynote Address: A Community of Reason and Rights, 77
Fordham L. Rev. 583 (2008)
A Day in Court Denied The Washington Post, Monday, March
31, 2008 Page A19
No Torture. No Exceptions. The Washington Monthly, January/
February/March 2008
Tom Eagleton: True Senator, 52 St. Louis U. L Journal 25
(2008)
Mirjan Damaska: A Bridge Between Two Cultures, in Maximo
Langer, et al., Festschrift for Mirjan Damaska (2008)
Sale v. Haitian Centers Council: Guantanamo and Refoulement
(with Michael J. Wishnie), in Ford, Hurwitz & Satterthwaite,
Human Rights Advocacy Stories (2000)
Repairing America's Human Rights Reputation, 40 Cornell
Int'l L.J. 635 (2007)
Is there a ``New'' New Haven School of International Law?
32 Yale Law Journal 559 (2007)
``Repair America's Human Rights Reputation''--op-ed
appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of the Yale Law Report as
part of a collection of op-eds written by Yale Law School
faculty members
Filartiga v. Pena-Irala: Judicial Internalization of the
Customary International Law Norm Against Torture in
International Law Stories (Noyes, Dickinson & Janis, eds.;
Law Stories Series, Foundation Press 2007)
Tom Eagleton: True Senator, 52 SLU L. Rev. 1 (2007)
Preface to Eugene Fidell, Beth Hillman & Dwight Sullivan,
Military Justice: Cases and Materials (2007)
Preface to William J. Aceves, The Anatomy of Torture: A
Documentary History of Filartiga v. Pena-Irala (2007)
The Future of Lou Henkin's Human Rights, Movement, 38 Col.
H.Rts Rev. 487 (2007)
The Bright Lights of Freedom, NPR: THIS I BELIEVE, Jay
Allison & Dan Gediman, eds., (New York: Henry Holt & Company,
2006) 141-143; paperback edition (2007)
America and the World, 2020, in THE CONSTITUTION IN 2020
(Siegel & Balkin eds. 2009)
In Memoriam: Robert F. Drinan, S.J. (1920-2007) 95
Georgetown Law Journal 1709 (2007)
The Activist: Robert S. Drinan S.J., Stirring the Human
Rights Revolution, BC Law Magazine 7 (Summer 2007) (tribute
to Father Drinan)
A World Drowning in Guns, INTERNATIONAL LAW AND
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: BRIDGING THEORY AND PRACTICE, Thomas
J. Biersteker, Peter J. Spiro, Chandra Lekha Sriram, and
Veronica Raffo, eds., (London: Routledge Press, 2006) 59
Louis B. Sohn: Present at the Creation, Harvard
International Law Journal, 2006
Unveiling Justice Blackmun, 72 Brooklyn L. Rev. 9 (2006)
Setting the World Right, 115 Yale L.J. 2350 (2006)
Why Transnational Law Matters, 24 Penn State Int'l L. Rev.
745 (2006)
The Healing Wisdom of Jay Katz, 6 Yale J. Health Policy,
Law and Ethics 397 (Spring 2006)
Harry Andrew Blackmun, in Yale Biographical Dictionary of
American Law (2007)
``The New Global Slave Trade,'' Displacement, Asylum,
Migration 232 (Oxford Amnesty Lectures) (Kate Tunstall ed.
2006)
``A Law Unto Itself?,'' Yale L.J. (The Pocket Part), March
2006
Tribute to President Francis Daly Fergusson, upon her
retirement from Vassar College, Vassar Quarterly, ``Energy in
the Executive''
``Can the President Be Torturer in Chief?,'' Ind. L. Rev.
81:1145 (winner 2007 Green Bag Award for ``exemplary writing
in a long article'' Green Bag Almanac and Reader (2007)
``Mark Janis and the American Tradition of International
Law,'' Conn. J. Int'l L.
``Captured by Guantanamo''
Choosing Heroes Carefully (Tribute to John Hart Ely), 57
Stan. L. Rev. 723 (2005)
``The Bright Lights of Freedom,'' This I Believe, NPR
``The Value of Process,'' in Why Obey International Law?,
10 Int' Legal Theory 1 (2004)
``Standing Together,'' 15 Law & Sexuality, 15:1
``Internalization Through Socialization,'' Duke L.J. 54:
975 (2005)
``Commentary: A World Drowning in Guns,'' in International
Law and International Relations 59-76 (Thomas Biersteker,
Veronica Raffo, Peter Spiro and Chandra Sriram, eds Routledge
2006)
Preface to Jaya Ramji & Beth van Schaack, Bringing the
Khmer Rouge to Justice: Prosecuting Mass Violence Before the
Cambodian Courts
The Ninth Annual John W. Hager Lecture, The 2004 Term: The
Supreme Court Meets International Law, Tulsa Journal of
Comparative & International Law 12: 1 (2004)
``The Wolfgang Friedmann Lecture: A World Without
Torture,'' Columbia Journal of Transnational Law (2005)
International Law as Part of Our Law, 98 Am. J. Int'l Law
43 (2004)
Separating Myth and Reality about Corporate Responsibility
Litigation, 7 J. Intl Econ. L. 263 (2004)
Snatched in Sudan, Captive in Khartoum, Times Higher
Education Supplement, Feb. 20, 2004
Advice to the Next High Commissioner, Columbia Human Rights
L. Rev. 2003
Transnational Legal Process After September 11, 22 Berkeley
J. Int'l L. (2004)
Rights to Remember, Economist, November 2003 at 24
American Diplomacy and the Death Penalty (with Thomas
Pickering) 80 Foreign Service Journal 19 (October 2003)
``On America's Double Standard: The Good and Bad Faces of
American Exceptionalism,'' American Prospect (October 2004)
``America's Jekyll and Hyde Exceptionalism,'' chapter in
Michael Ignatieff, American Exceptionalism and Human Rights
(Princeton University Press 2005)
On American Exceptionalism, 55 Stan. L. Rev. (2003)
A World Drowning in Guns, 71 Fordham L. Rev. (2003)
Why the United States should ratify the Convention for the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 34 Case
W. Res. L. Rev. 258 (2002)
Tribute to John Sexton, 60 Annual Survey of American Law
(2003) (tribute to John Sexton)
A Tribute to Tom the Frank, 35 NYU Journal Int'l L. & Pol.
(2003) (tribute to Thomas Franck)
The Law Under Stress After September 11, 31 Int'l Legal
Info. 317 (2003)
International Human Rights of Persons with Mental
Disabilities, 63Md. L. Rev. 1 (2004)
Wrong on Rights, Yaleglobal Online (2004)
In Memoriam: Dean Eugene V. Rostow, Yale Law Report 16
(Summer 2003)
Paying ``Decent Respect'' to the World Opinion on the Death
Penalty, 35 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1085 (2002)
Paying Decent Respect to International Tribunal Rulings,
2002 Proceedings of the American Society of International Law
Against Military Tribunals, Dissent Magazine 58 (Fall 2002)
One Year Later, America Deserves Mixed Reviews, Yale Daily
News (September 13, 2002)
A Better Way to Deal with Iraq, Hartford Courant, October
20, 2002
``Preserving Our Values: The Challenge At Home and
Abroad,'' chapter 6 in The Age of Terror: America and the
World After September 11 at 143 (Strobe Talbott & Nayan
Chanda, eds. Basic Books 2002)
``The Spirit of the Laws,'' 43 Harv. Int'l L.J. 23 (2002)
``The 2001 Richard Childress Memorial Lecture: A United
States Human Rights Policy for the 21st Century,'' 46 St.
Louis U. L. J. 293 (2002) (special issue with nine
commentators)
``The Case Against Military Commissions,'' 96 Am. J. Int'l
L. 337 (April 2002)
``Transnational Legal Process Illuminated,'' in
Transnational Legal Processes: Globalisation and Power
Disparities 327 (Michael Likosky ed. Butterworths Press 2001)
``The Globalization of Freedom,'' 26 Yale J. Int'l L. 305
(2001)
``A Passion for Service,'' 45 N.Y.L.S. L. Rev. 17 (2001)
(tribute to Harry Wellington)
``An Uncommon Lawyer,'' 42 Harv. Int'l L.J. 7 (2001)
(tribute to Abram Chayes)
``We Have The Right Courts for Bin Laden,'' N.Y. Times,
Nov. 23, 2001 at A39
Six Civil Rights Experts Weigh in on Sept. 11, Time.com,
12-1-01
``The U.S. Can't Allow Justice to Be Another War
Casualty,'' The Los Angeles Times; Dec. 17, 2001 at B11
``The Best Defense: Article I,'' The Hartford Courant
(September 16, 2001)
``America the Pariah,'' Project Syndicate (August 2001) (op
ed piece published in 20 foreign newspapers)
``Estados Unidos y Europa, divididos por la pena de
muerte,'' LA NACION (Argentina) July 23, 2001
``A Dismal Record on Executing the Retarded,'' New York
Times (June 14, 2001)
``A Wake Up Call on Human Rights'' Washington Post (May 8,
2001)
``A Breakthrough in North Korea,'' Washington Post
(November 2, 2000)
``Complementarity Between International Organisations on
Human Rights/The Rise of Transnational Networks as the
``Third Globalization,'' 21 Human Rights Journal 307 (2000)
``The Third Globalization: Transnational Human Rights
Networks,'' Introduction to the 1999 Human Rights Report,
U.S. Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 1999 at xv (vol. 1) (2000)
``The Right to Democracy,'' Introduction to the 1998 Human
Rights Report, U.S. Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 1998 at xv (vol. 1) (1999)
``1998 Harris Lecture: How Is International Human Rights
Law Enforced?'' 74 Indiana L. J. 1397 (1999)
``1998 Frankel Lecture: Bringing International Law Home,''
35 Houston L. Rev. 623 (1998)
``Is International Law Really State Law?'', 111 Harv. L.
Rev. 1824 (1998)
``Why Do Nations Obey International Law?'', 106 Yale L.J.
2599 (1997)
``Ten Lessons About Appellate Oral Argument,'' 71
Connecticut Bar Journal 218 (1997)
``Congressional Protection of International Human Rights,''
170 Fed. R. D. 285 (1997)
``Book Review, Chayes & Chayes, The New Sovereignty,'' 91
American Journal of International Law 389 (1997)
``War and Responsibility in the Dole/Gingrich Congress,''
50 Miami L. Rev. 1 (1996)
``Transnational Legal Process,'' 75 Neb. L. Rev. 181 (1996)
``The Constitution,'' in Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign
Relations (Oxford University Press 1996)
``A World Transformed,'' 20 Yale Journal of International
Law vii (1995)
``America's Offshore Refugee Camps,'' 29 Richmond L. Rev.
139 (Allen Chair 1994)
``Refugees, The Courts, and the New World Order,'' 1994
Utah L. Rev. 999
``The `Haiti Paradigm' in United States Human Rights
Policy,'' 103 Yale L.J. 2391 (1994)
``Democracy and Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy?:
Lessons from the Haitian Crisis,'' 48 SMU L. Rev. 189 (1994)
``The Haitian Refugee Litigation: A Case Study in
Transnational Public Law Litigation,'' 18 Md. J. Int'l L &
Trade 1 (1994)
``Reflections on Refoulement and Haitian Centers Council,''
35 Harv. Int'l L.J. 1 (1994)
``Who Are the Archetypal `Good' Aliens?'' 88 American
Society of International Law Proc. 450 (1994)
``Justice Blackmun and the 'World Out There','' 104 Yale
I yield the floor, and I suggest the asbence of a quorum.
