Gitmo Detainees are the Path to Legal Stardom

An interesting op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal on how representing Guantanamo detainees (that's illegal enemy combatants for the realists among us) has become downright popular among private attorneys and large law firms.

It's so popular, in fact, that the Justice Department team is grossly outnumbered and outgunned, so to speak, by the defendants' dream team of attorneys. Consider this:

The imbalance was illustrated by a scene last week at the federal courthouse building in Washington, D.C. There Judge Thomas Hogan was to consider rules governing the habeas corpus petitions of the detainees. That meant half a dozen Justice Department lawyers waiting in a room packed wall-to-wall with high-priced partners -- many backed up by legions of associates, outside legal experts, human-rights centers, and concerned law students.

So, the next time someone complains to you about the plight of the detainees, throw on some hip boots and ask them to cry you a river.