The Cable
The Cable goes inside the foreign policy machine, from Foggy Bottom to Turtle Bay, the White House to Embassy Row.

Harold Koh confirmed

Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh was confirmed as the State Department’s legal advisor in a roll-call vote, 62-35.   Koh was tapped for the job nearly four months ago, but has faced criticism from some conservatives for an alleged "transnational" approach to the law. Ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) threw his ...

Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh was confirmed as the State Department's legal advisor in a roll-call vote, 62-35.  

Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh was confirmed as the State Department’s legal advisor in a roll-call vote, 62-35.  

Koh was tapped for the job nearly four months ago, but has faced criticism from some conservatives for an alleged "transnational" approach to the law. Ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) threw his support to Koh in a statement Thursday. "After reading his answers to dozens of questions, attending his hearing in its entirety, meeting with him privately, and reviewing his writings, I believe that Dean Koh is unquestionably qualified to assume the post for which he is nominated," Lugar said.

"Dean Koh is one of the foremost legal scholars in the country and a man of the highest intellect, integrity, and character," SFRC chairman John Kerry (D-MA) said in a statement. "He is exactly the type of Legal Adviser we need at the State Department, and I thank my colleagues for supporting his nomination."

Laura Rozen writes The Cable daily at ForeignPolicy.com.

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.