Doug Letter
Born
Douglas Neal Letter

(1953-09-27) September 27, 1953 (age 70)
EducationColumbia University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (JD)

Douglas Neal Letter is an American attorney. He was general counsel to the United States House of Representatives from 2018 to 2022.[1] [2] He is now chief legal officer for Brady: United Against Gun Violence.[2] From 1978 to 2018, he was an attorney in the United States Department of Justice, ultimately serving as director of the appellate staff for the Civil Division.[3][1][4][5][6]

During a 2014 hearing before a federal court in which Letter was representing the United States Government in a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, he made headlines after providing erroneous information to judges regarding the legality of National Security Letters.[7][5][6] The Justice Department later issued a written apology to the court for Letter's statement.[5]

Letter received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1975 and his J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1978.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McNamara, Audrey (December 28, 2018). "Nancy Pelosi Appoints Douglas Letter New General Counsel of the House". Daily Beast. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Cheney, Kyle (21 January 2023). "The House's legal lieutenant in its Trump wars speaks out — about Jan. 6 and more". Politico. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  3. ^ Johnson, Carrie (March 12, 2018). "40 Years Of Experience Walks Out The Door Of The Justice Department". National Public Radio. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  4. ^ Ruger, Todd (June 10, 2019). "Unassuming House counsel is a key player in Trump-Congress fights". Roll Call. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Mullin, Joe (November 13, 2014). "DOJ admits its lawyer misled appeals court during oral argument". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Tuccille, J.D. (November 14, 2014). "Justice Department Lied in Court About National Security Letters". Reason. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  7. ^ Sledge, Matt (November 13, 2014). "Government Admits 'Misstatement' In Key Surveillance Lawsuit". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  8. ^ "Article One Oversight and Executive Power: A Virtual Townhall with Douglas N. Letter, 75'CC, JD UC Berkeley '78". Columbia College. Archived from the original on 2020-07-24. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
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