Courtney Simmons Elwood

Courtney Simmons Elwood was appointed October 5, 2005, by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Justice. Elwood succeeded Kyle Sampson, who resigned in March 2007 as DoJ Chief of Staff.

Elwood is involved in the Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy. Michael Isikoff wrote in the April 16, 2007, issue of Newsweek:


 * "Courtney Elwood, a former deputy to Dick Cheney's chief counsel David Addington, who is now working for Gonzales, has taken on a bigger role, shutting down responses to most inquiries from Congress and the news media because she views the firings flap as a purely 'legal' issue."

Office of Counsel: Patriot Act
Associate White House Counsel Elwood, as well as Deputy White House Counsel Timothy E. Flanigan (incorrectly cited as Tim "Flanagan") and Associate White House Counsels Brett M. Kavanaugh and Bradford A. Berenson (incorrectly cited as "Porad" Berenson), assisted then White House Counsel Gonzales to prepare the Patriot Act, as acknowledged in the Congressional Record (Senate) for October 11, 2001, and again on October 18, 2001.

Profiles
According to her profile at the time of her appointment, Elwood had served as Counselor to the Attorney General since February 2005. Prior to joining DoJ, Elwood served as Deputy Counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney from 2003 to 2005, and as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002.

Elwood "practiced law at the Washington, D.C., firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans from 1996 to 2001, after clerking for [the late] Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Elwood earned her law degree from the Yale Law School, where she served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal. She earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Washington and Lee University."