Rachel L. Brand: Portrait of one of Rove's Political Prosecutors

By Scott Horton

Documents disclosed by the Justice Department indicate that Rachel L. Brand was the candidate selected by Kyle Sampson, Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, to become U.S. attorney in the Western District of Michigan. Today Scott Shane profiles Ms. Brand in the New York Times. She may be the best qualified of the eight successor candidates, but her résumé makes clear that her lead card is politics, not law.

In many ways, Ms. Brand represents young lawyers with conservative pedigrees and proven loyalty who have flourished in this administration. She was active in the Federalist Society, an association of conservative lawyers that is a talent pool for those interested in appointments in Republican administrations.

At the Justice Department, she gave speeches defending the USA Patriot Act and was assigned to shepherd the Supreme Court nominations of John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. through Senate confirmation. She had the same role for Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, until Ms. Miers's nomination was withdrawn.

Ms. Brand was born in Michigan and raised in Iowa. She worked for a law firm here, was counsel to Senator Elizabeth Dole's 2000 presidential campaign and joined the Bush campaign's legal team for the Florida presidential vote count in 2000.

After time in the White House counsel's office, Ms. Brand was law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court and joined the Justice Department in 2003. Before being confirmed for her current post in 2005, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee, she had never been in court as a lawyer, although she had argued two civil motions by phone in private litigation.