McCarthy announces top House lawyer as fights over Biden probes shape up

The lawyer who will lead the courtroom fights mounted by the newly GOP-controlled Home of Representatives is a former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas and “seasoned litigator” with years of expertise on the Justice Division and the Federal Communications Fee.

Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy introduced the appointment of Matthew Berry, who most lately labored on the agency Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, as Home normal counsel.

Berry will play a key position because the Home battles with the Biden administration over the scope of lawmakers’ investigations form up.

His predecessor, Doug Letter – who served as Home Basic counsel after Democrats took over the Home in 2019 – rewrote the playbook for the way Congress can use litigation to advance its probes.

“Matthew is a seasoned litigator and skilled counselor with over 25 years of private and non-private sector expertise,” McCarthy, a California Republican, mentioned in a press release Wednesday. 

“Matthew brings the data and expertise essential to revive the integrity of this establishment and is the fitting option to fill this important position,” McCarthy mentioned.

Whereas on the Justice Division, Berry did stints on the Workplace of Authorized Counsel – which points inner opinions that information the manager department on a number of the thorniest authorized questions – in addition to on the Workplace of Authorized Coverage, which spearheads the coverage initiatives of the division. Berry then spent greater than a decade on the FCC, finally serving as its normal counsel and as chief of employees.

Along with waging the courtroom battles over subpoena enforcement and different disputes that may emerge from Home investigations, the Home Basic Counsel’s workplace works on the authorized briefs that the Home could search to file in instances regarding legal guidelines handed by Congress and different issues. The workplace additionally handles the lower-profile work of advising particular person lawmakers on authorized questions which will come up as a part of their legislative duties.