President Donald Trump signs one of the early versions of his travel ban executive order on Jan. 27, 2017 in Arlington, VA. | Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
Justice Department attorneys who pored over a slew of controversial executive orders considered and later issued by President Donald Trump received a prestigious award from their agency Wednesday.
At an annual DOJ award ceremony held at DAR Constitution Hall, six attorneys from the Office of Legal Counsel were saluted with an Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for “sustained and excellent work in reviewing Executive Orders, other substantial Presidential directives, and Attorney General Orders for form and legality,” Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus said.
Lofthus didn’t say precisely which orders gave the team “sustained” work but Trump issued 55 formal Executive Orders during his first year in office, including several versions of the hotly disputed travel ban order that was eventually upheld in its heavily-modified form by the Supreme Court.
Honored with the award were OLC Special Counsel Rosemary Hart and Attorney-Advisers Matthew Guarnieri, Laura Heim, Kelley Brooke Hostetler, Erica Newland and Leif Overvold.
Four of the attorneys joined Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on stage to accept the award. Lofthus noted, without elaboration, that Hostetler and Newland were not present.
