American Tali-lawyer: Defending John Walker Lindh - James Brosnahan

National Review, Feb 25, 2002 by Byron York

Apart from his work on liberal causes at home, Brosnahan has devoted much energy to another passion, the politics of Northern Ireland. He runs something called Northern Ireland Alert, an organization that grades American politicians on their support of Irish nationalist causes. To receive high marks from Brosnahan, lawmakers have to approve a slate of pro-nationalist positions, including "release or leniency regarding political prisoners."

One of Brosnahan's highest-profile court cases involved Irish nationalist Kevin Artt, who confessed to the murder of a prison warden in Belfast in 1978. Artt, who later claimed his confession had been coerced, was sentenced to life in prison. In 1983, he joined 37 other inmates who broke out of Maze Prison in the largest prison escape in British history. He made his way to the United States, where he avoided attention until 1992, when he was arrested and scheduled for extradition back to Northern Ireland. But Artt was saved by Brosnahan, who agreed to represent the convicted killer pro bono.

Brosnahan mounted a defense of Artt that was in essence a political attack on the authorities in Northern Ireland. An account in the National Law Journal described a court session in 1996 in which Brosnahan gave the judge a "Manhattan telephone directory-sized pile of documents" about "political conditions, human rights abuses, and discriminatory practices against Catholics in Northern Ireland." The judge put aside most of Brosnahan's material, but Artt was eventually released on bond after the Good Friday peace accord, which led to the release of dozens of convicted killers and other prisoners in Northern Ireland. Finally, in September 2000, British authorities dropped the extradition effort altogether.

Now, it is not unreasonable to expect that Brosnahan will come up with a similarly political defense strategy for John Walker Lindh. But this time Brosnahan may find himself facing insurmountable odds. For one thing, his client seems indisputably guilty -- if anything, it appears the Justice Department under-charged him in an effort to ensure a conviction. For another, polls show that Americans overwhelmingly favor severe punishment for Walker Lindh. Finally, the trial will be held in Northern Virginia, not too far from the post-September 11 repair work being done at the Pentagon, and it seems unlikely that Brosnahan will be able to muster the kind of support for his client that might sway the jury pool. Still, prosecutors should be careful. Brosnahan has won a lot of cases in his long career, and successfully defending the American Taliban would be the biggest victory of all.