That would be Judy Clarke (right), whom this 'Grrl 1st met when Judy was Executive Director of the San Diego Federal Defender's office. Had the privilege later to serve as a Vice Chair of the Amicus Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, at the same time that Judy served as NACDL's President. Other titles the South Carolina native has earned include Executive Director of the Federal Defenders office in Spokane, Washington; professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia; National Capital Resource Counsel based at the San Diego federal defense office.
Judy's most remarkable achievement, however, has been to provide topnotch representation to child-murderer Susan Smith, Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, and other reviled defendants, most put on trial for capital offenses.
Yesterday she took on another such assignment: representation of the man charged with the tragic Tucson killings and attempted killings this weekend. (Here is the federal complaint, covering only the shootings for which there's federal jurisdiction -- that is, the fatal shootings of Chief Judge John Roll and a Congressional aide, plus the woundings of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other staffers.)
The appointment of 1 of the country's best lawyers to this case attests to the power of the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
