[1] She was succeeded in that role in a permanent capacity by Christopher H. Schroeder, and is currently serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the same office.
Johnsen worked at the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice from 1993 to 1998 and served as acting Assistant Attorney General from 1997 to 1998; she was twice nominated to the post in the Obama administration.
[9] As President-Elect, Obama announced his intention to nominate Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice.
[13] Obama also had the option of making a recess appointment, which would have enabled Johnsen to fill the post until the end of the 2010 session of the Senate.
[20] A Democratic member of the committee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, called such attacks hypocritical in light of Republicans' silence about the OLC during the Bush administration: "Where were you when those incompetent, ideological opinions were being issued?
[21] In early January 2010, White House officials began telling reporters that Obama was planning to renominate Johnsen to head the OLC.
[6] In a statement, Johnsen mentioned that the delays and strong political opposition had threatened her ability to restore the non-partisanship and efficiency of the Office of Legal Counsel.
[6] In January 2017, in an article for Slate.com, Johnsen described the "personal toll" of the Senate's refusal to vote on her nomination to head the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel in 2009 and 2010.
")[25] On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden swore Johnsen into office once more as the Acting Attorney General for OLC, pending nomination of a Senate-confirmed candidate for the full-time role.
This reversed the June 2019 OLC opinion by Steven Engel which had argued that the House had lacked a "legitimate legislative purpose" to warrant receiving the information.
Johnsen wrote that Engel's opinion "failed to afford the Committee the respect due to a coordinate branch of government.