The White House announced Thursday that Bush had nominated G. Steven Agee to the Richmond, Va.-based appeals court, which has handled some of the country's biggest terrorism cases.

If confirmed by the Senate, Agee would fill the seat of J. Michael Luttig, who resigned in 2006.

"Justice Agee is an experienced attorney, dedicated public servant and respected judge," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said.

Bush wants the Senate to consider Agee's nomination swiftly because heavy caseloads and the duration of vacancies have created a "judicial emergency" at the 4th Circuit, she said.

Five of the 15 seats on the court are vacant. Agee was one of several people that Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Jim Webb, D-Va., recommended to Bush after conducting a search of their own.

Confirmation of Bush's judicial nominees has caused friction between the Senate and the White House for years.

"Bush has a history of not consulting home-state senators or seeking consensus nominees, so Agee's nomination is a healthy sign," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "Bush should consult more often and select consensus nominees."

Tobias said it's unclear, however, whether there will be time for Bush's nominee to be confirmed. Judicial nominees must go through security checks, American Bar Association evaluations and Senate hearings and votes.

Typically, "appointments slow down in an election year and stop after the (political) conventions," Tobias said. "If the Virginia senators push, Agee could be confirmed, though he would have to move ahead of a number in the queue."

Bush has accused the Senate of dragging its feet on his judicial nominees.

The White House says there are 11 circuit court nominees awaiting Senate confirmation. The current Congress has confirmed only six circuit court judges while the Senate has confirmed an average of 17 circuit court judges in the final two years of the past three administrations, according to the White House.

Agee, 55, a native of Roanoke, Va., was an associate and partner in several private law firms before becoming a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, a position he held from 1982 to 1994. From 2001 to 2003, he was a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals and since 2003 has been a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court.

Agee, who is married with one child, is a graduate of the University of Virginia and New York University schools of law.

Carol A. Hyde, a founding partner of Iseman, Cunningham, Riester & Hyde, LLP, a law firm with offices in Poughkeepsie and Albany, was elected the firm’s first managing partner at the partners’ annual planning retreat held in January.

The firm was formerly managed by a three-person executive committee.
Hyde practices in the areas of health care and business transactions.

A native of Michigan, Hyde earned her general studies degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and graduated magna cum laude from Albany Law School of Union University, where she was co-valedictorian of her class.

William J. Haynes II was confirmed as general counsel by the Senate in May 2001. He had discussed leaving the administration some months ago and has decided to accept an offer to work in the private sector, Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said.

"I am sorry to see Jim leave the Pentagon," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement. "I have valued his legal advice and enjoyed working with him."

Daniel J. Dell'Orto, the Defense Department's principal deputy general counsel since June 2000, will serve as acting general counsel, the Pentagon said.

In 2006, President Bush nominated Haynes for a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va. The nomination was withdrawn in January 2007 when it appeared that the Senate's new Democratic majority would not confirm Haynes.

A group of retired military officers opposing Bush's position on the treatment of detainees had urged lawmakers to block Haynes' appointment to the court. They contended that his role in establishing detention and interrogation policies led to abuses at the detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and called into question the military's commitment to the rule of law.

Within months of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Haynes led a tour of military attorneys to Guantanamo as he worked on plans for military tribunals for prisoners captured in the war in Afghanistan. At the time a Pentagon spokeswoman referred to "charting completely new territory" in deciding how to deal with detainees.

Haynes' replacement, Dell'Orto, has defended the military tribunal system in appearances before Congress, saying the rules governing the tribunals "afford all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people."

In response to allegations that the Bush administration had authorized torture against some prisoners, the White House released in 2004 a series of documents. In a Pentagon memo, dated Nov. 27, 2002, Haynes recommended that then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approve the use of 14 interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo, such as yelling at a prisoner during questioning and using "stress positions," like standing, for up to four hours.

In a handwritten note, Rumsfeld responded: "However, I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours." He later rescinded his approval and ordered a review of issues relating to interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Air Force Col. Morris Davis, the former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo, who now heads the Air Force judiciary, welcomed Haynes' departure.

"I hope it will open the door for some positive change in the military commissions, but there are a couple of others still standing in the way," said Davis, who resigned as lead prosecutor of the Guantanamo detainees in October over alleged political interference in the U.S. military tribunals. "At least the odds are very good that whoever takes his place will have a more collegial and less contemptuous relationship with the uniformed judge advocates."

Davis last week said he would be a defense witness for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the driver of terror leader Osama bin Laden. Davis called it "an opportunity to tell the truth."

At Hamdan's April pretrial hearing at Guantanamo, his defense team plans to argue that alleged political interference cited by Davis violates the Military Commissions Act, Hamdan's military lawyer, Navy Lt. Brian Mizer, has said.

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