Politico has an article with a short profile of Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand. I've known Rachel for years and, like a couple of Harvard Law professors quoted in the article, I'm a big fan of hers.
The occasion for the article is speculation (and that's all it is) that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will recuse himself during the Russia investigation because he wrote the memo outlining the reasons then-FBI Director Comey should be replaced. Rachel is next in line at the Department. I tend to think this is so much space-filler, but one way or the other, DOJ benefits from having Rachel at a high level.
A taste of the article:
Brand has enjoyed a glittering career, one that marked her early for a top job at the Justice Department in a Republican administration. Raised with three siblings on an Iowa farm, she graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1995 and, three years later, from Harvard Law School.
She was active in the Federalist Society, the conservative lawyer's group that has long been a talent pool for anyone interested in serving in the administration of a Republican president or on the Supreme Court. Brand was part of the legal team representing Bush in the Florida vote recount in 2000. She went on to be hired as a Supreme Court clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy before joining Bush's Justice Department. There, she helped shepherd the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito.
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