January 13, 2007: AP: Judge Walton a Republican Popular with DC Democrats

The Associated Press (AP) issues a “thumbnail sketch” of the main players in the Lewis Libby perjury and obstruction trial. Much of the material is derived from readily available biographical sources, but the AP notes that Judge Reggie Walton is a Republican who “does not fit neatly into a political box,” and has served as, among other positions, a criminal prosecutor, a public defender, and a deputy drug “czar” under President George H. W. Bush. He was nominated by George W. Bush for the federal bench in 2001, was introduced at his confirmation hearings by US House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and won unanimous approval by the Senate. The AP also notes that “Walton decided not to move the case to the courthouse’s larger, more majestic ceremonial courtroom.” The article goes on to note that Libby’s lawyers, particularly Theodore Wells and William Jeffress, have markedly different courtroom styles, with Jeffress being the calmer and quieter of the two, and cites both lawyers’ ties to Democratic causes. [Associated Press, 1/13/2007]