The Hudson Star Observer reports that a Wisconsin native has been appointed interim attorney general.

Solicitor General Paul Clement is a Cedarburg, WI native.

As Wikipedia reports, Clement's professional life is solidly conservative, including stints with right-wingers such as Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, SC Justice Antonin Scalia, and as an associate of Kirkland & Ellis, Kenneth Starr's firm.

Clement has also argued major cases for the Bush administration defending its power grabs for the executive branch, and an aggressive right-wing legal agenda.

Law.com reports that he has "perfectly appointed conservative résumé." 

Legal Times' Vanessa Blum writes that: "During his brief return to private practice, Clement collaborated with the conservative American Center for Law & Justice on two amicus briefs in Bush v. Gore, supporting George W. Bush on behalf of Republican voters."

Clement has also contributed $2,000 to Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.

One has to believe that Clement, a former member of the Federalist Society, is much too politicized to expect much of his coming tenure in office.

Update: From Prairie Weather:

Paul Clement as liar?

Our concern about Clement is of a slightly older vintage. When Clement appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the Jose Padilla case on April 28, 2004, skeptical justices asked him about the risk that a detainee like Padilla might be abused while in custody. Clement's response: "Where the government is on a war footing ... you have to trust the executive to make the kind of quintessential military judgments that are involved in things like that." When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that some governments engage in "mild torture" to obtain information from detainees, Clement shot back: "Well, our executive doesn't."

From the Hudson Star Observer:

He collected rocks and was an excellent debater while growing up near Cedarburg.

Now, Paul Clement is about to become the nation’s “top-cop.”

President Bush named Clement, 41, Monday as the interim attorney general, from when Alberto Gonzales resigns Sept. 17 until a new person is confirmed.

Clement has been the nation’s Solicitor General for the last two years, arguing cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Bush administration.

He’s been with the Justice Department since 2001, and was with the conservative Federalist Society before that.

Richard Samp of the Washington Legal Foundation says Clement is the one person who’s been unscathed by the numerous accusations against the Justice Department.

Steve Biskupic of Milwaukee, U.S. Attorney, says Clement is very bright and has never forgotten his Wisconsin roots. Liberal groups have not had good things to say about him.

Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice calls Clement “part of an ultra-conservative group of lawyers recruited by this administration to limit the rights and liberties for Americans.”

Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, Wisconsin Senate Democrats, have not commented on him.

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