The Guest List: May

Dawn Johnsen —The new head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has an aggressive view of how the Bush administration went wrong in pursuing the war on terror.

Earl Devaney —A former Secret Service agent, Devaney is now the administration’s top “stimulus cop,” ensuring that the big economic bailout is spent wisely.

David Stevens —The president of Long & Foster is the nominee to head the Federal Housing Administration. Will the value of our houses go up next year?

Kristi Toliver —The University of Maryland basketball star is graduating as part of the school’s winningest class ever, with a record of 126–19.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty —The compelling new book by NPR’s religion correspondent, Fingerprints of God, looks at the science of spirituality.

Brenda Morris —What went wrong in the Ted Stevens trial? As lead prosecutor, Morris was held in contempt after the case went south.

Brendan Sullivan —As Ted Stevens’s defender, Sullivan is vindicated by Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to abandon the case.

Kal Penn —The Harold & Kumar actor is one of the oddest additions to the Obama administration—he had to be killed off in TV’s House to take a job in the Office of Public Liaison.

This article first appeared in the May 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.

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