22 Facts About Harold Koh

Harold Hongju Koh was born on December 8,1954 and is an American lawyer and legal scholar who served as the legal adviser of the Department of State in the Obama administration.

Harold Koh was nominated to this position by President Barack Obama on March 23,2009, and confirmed by the Senate on June 25,2009.

Harold Koh left the State Department in January 2013, returning to Yale University as a Sterling Professor of international law.

Harold Koh was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2007.

Harold Koh's parents grew up in Korea under Japanese rule in an area that later became part of North Korea.

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Harold Koh moved to New Haven, Connecticut, with his family and took a teaching position at Yale.

Harold Koh was struck by polio at age six; he went through "two operations, leg braces, and endless rehabilitation" and as a result still walks with a limp.

Harold Koh's wife, Mary-Christy Fisher, is an attorney employed by the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center; they have two children.

Harold Koh clerked for Associate Justice Harry Blackmun on the US Supreme Court from October 1981 through September 1982.

Harold Koh has written over 175 law review articles and legal editorials.

Harold Koh is a prominent advocate of human rights and civil rights; he has argued and written briefs on a wide number of cases before US appellate courts, and has testified before the US Congress more than a dozen times.

Harold Koh has received numerous awards, medals, and honorary degrees.

Harold Koh was elected to the American Law Institute in 1992 and was elected to the ALI Council in 2007.

Harold Koh stepped down from the Council when he worked for the Obama administration, but was re-elected to Council when he ended his tenure with the State Department and returned to Yale.

Harold Koh currently serves as a Counselor on the Restatement Fourth, the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, and previously served as an Adviser on the Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure project.

Harold Koh's nomination was generally supported in the Senate and among legal colleagues.

Harold Koh has written in support of the practice of using tenets of international law and foreign legal precedent to inform the deliberative process of judicial decision making in the United States, and has described what he has called "transnational jurisprudence" as essential to maintaining a well-ordered international legal system.

Harold Koh said the US is in "an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the associated forces", and therefore has the lawful right to use force to protect its citizens "consistent with its inherent right to self-defense" under international law.

Harold Koh identified three elements that the US considers when determining whether to authorize a specific targeted drone killing:.

Harold Koh said that the drone strikes against al-Qaeda and its allies were lawful targeted killing, as part of the military action authorized by Congress, and not assassination, which is banned by executive order.

Harold Koh was criticized by lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who represents activist Julian Assange, for addressing a letter to both her and her client.

On December 7,2012, the Wall Street Journal reported that Harold Koh was poised to leave his job at the State Department and return to Yale Law School in January 2013 as a law professor.