Jesselyn Radack, a lawyer who worked in the Justice Department’s Professional Responsibility Advisory Office, is without a job and at the center of a debate over legal ethics in a high profile terrorist case. Radack provided legal advice to the FBI on the possible interrogation of John Walker Lindh, the American who was captured in Afghanistan after joining with the Taliban. In her analysis of the law, she advised the FBI not to question Lindh without his defense lawyer present. This advice was ignored and the FBI interviews produced incriminating statements that allowed prosecutors to secure a guilty plea. Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding the Taliban. Radack has maintained that Justice Department Officials have attempted to conceal her e-mail messages to the FBI from the court and that she was pressured to resign for having written them. When excerpts of her internal emails eventually appeared in the media, the Justice Department opened an investigation to determine if she had leaked them. Radack also claims that the firm that hired her after she resigned from the Justice Department placed her on leave once she invoked her status as a whistleblower under the Whistleblower Protection Act. The case may well be a tough test of whistleblower protections. Radack violated attorney-client privilege in a high profile terrorism case in order to reveal what she believed was an attempt to suppress legitimate legal debate and subvert due process. Radack’s claims have forced the Justice Department to initiate an investigation of the possible concealment of documents and retaliation on Radack. The investigation will be handled by Radack’s old office, the Office of Professional Responsibility. Senate Democrats, especially Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), repeatedly brought up the whistleblower matter during Michael Chertoff’s confirmation hearings for the U.S. Court of Appeals. Chertoff, a leading Justice Department official, has defended the department of Justice’s right to interrogate Lindh without a lawyer.