WASHINGTON (AP) — David Ogden was confirmed as deputy attorney general Thursday, overcoming opposition by Republicans who objected to his representation of defendants in pornography cases.
The vote in the Senate was 65-28.
“I felt it was a scurrilous attack on him,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Leahy and other supporters argued that Ogden’s legal representation did not reflect his personal views, and they pointed out that Ogden has argued forcefully for protecting children from sexual abuse.
Nearly all the opposition came from Republicans.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been running the Justice Department without top aides, pending the confirmation of Ogden and other nominees.
Most of the debate on Ogden took place Wednesday.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., one of the opponents, said Ogden “is more than just a lawyer who has had a few unsavory clients. He has devoted a substantial part of his career, case after case, for 20 years, in defense of pornography.”
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said he was “alarmed that President Obama has nominated a candidate to serve in the No. 2 post at the Department of Justice who has repeatedly represented the pornography industry and its interests.”
During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Ogden sought to reassure senators that he would prosecute child pornographers aggressively, and he urged the lawmakers not to judge him by arguments he made on behalf of clients.
“Child pornography is abhorrent,” Ogden said, adding later, “Issues of children and families have always been of great importance to me.”
While a private attorney, Ogden argued on behalf of Playboy and librarians fighting congressionally mandated Internet filtering software.
Leahy said “special interests on the far right have distorted Mr. Ogden’s record by focusing only on a narrow sliver of his diverse practice as a litigator that spans more than three decades.”
Leahy said that during previous service in the Justice Department, Ogden “aggressively defended” the constitutionality of the Child Online Protection Act and the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996.