DOJ Legal Counsel Nominee Faces Questions on Sidley Austin Work

Senators from both parties asked critical questions Wednesday at a confirmation hearing for Christopher Fonzone, the White House nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans focused on his private practice clients as a Sidley Austin partner and several Democrats raised their disagreements with prior OLC positions.

Multiple Republicans targeted Fonzone, currently the general counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, over his representation of Chinese tech company Huawei and the Chinese ministry of commerce.

When asked by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) if he regrets taking on those clients, Fonzone said it was a small amount of work at the request of other partners. Blackburn further pressed him for his views on what she called the politicization of DOJ by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“OLC is not a policymaking office,” Fonzone replied. “OLC’s role is a reactive one. It answers legal questions presented to it.”

Fonzone, who faced similar questions about his Sidley Austin work during his 2021 Senate confirmation for ODNI, would be succeeding Christopher Schroeder, who departed over the summer.

At OLC, where Fonzone also briefly worked under President Barack Obama, he’d be responsible for advising the president and executive branch agencies on thorny legal questions, while drafting legal opinions for the attorney general.

He faced the most thorough Democratic scrutiny from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who renewed a litany of concerns—dating back to multiple administrations—over OLC. That included an OLC memo authorizing what Whitehouse called the “warrantless wiretapping” of Americans.

“I’m interested in what guardrails you think OLC should build for itself,” Whitehouse said.

“I’m not going to sit here and say OLC’s always gotten it right,” Fonzone said in response. “As you said, there’s times when they haven’t gotten it right. I think the only thing the office can do to establish trust is to deliver the best advice it can--frank and independent advice.”

Two years ago, Fonzone was confirmed to the intelligence post, 55-45, with the approval of five Republicans and all Democrats.