The liberal legal network, which blossomed during eight years of Democratic exile, counts as its veterans Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric Holder: Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain; and future White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown.
Seven other recent board members are advising the incoming administration on legal, education, and labor-related issues. Theresa Wynn Roseborough is rumored to be a top candidate for solicitor general. And, at least two other members were also rumored to be in the running for key Cabinet posts.
The ACS links also reach far into Obama’s past legal career. Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe, a member of the ACS Board of Advisors, taught Obama constitutional law and later advised his campaign on legal issues. Geoffrey Stone hired the president-elect for his first teaching post at the University of Chicago law school. And Abner Mikva, who first met Obama at the University of Chicago, was a political mentor during the president-elect’s failed bid for Congress in 2000.
