Speculation has swirled over the future of White House Counsel Greg Craig for weeks. Now, it appears, the speculation is over. Both the Washington Post and Associated Press report that Craig will announce he is leaving the administration tomorrow. The new White House Counsel? Bob Bauer. More from Marc Ambinder here.
UPDATE: It’s official. One question is how Craig’s departure will affect judicial nominations. As I’ve discussed before, the Obama Administration has been quite slow to nominate federal judges. One reason for this could be a bottleneck within the White House Counsel’s office, which has been involved in many issues historically handled by attorneys in various cabinet agencies. If this is the cause, Craig’s departure may be less significant than the eventual confirmation of Christopher Schroeder to head the Office of Legal Policy. (Speaking of which, what’s up with that? Why is that confirmation taking so long?)