More than 130 deans of American law schools have signed a letter deploring a Pentagon official’s statement criticizing major law firms for representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The law deans wrote that they were “appalled” by an interview last week in which the Pentagon’s point man on detainee affairs, Charles Stimson, said corporations should be disturbed by the law firms’ pro bono work for detainees and might want to reconsider sending business to the firms involved.

“We find Secretary Stimson’s statement to be contrary to basic tenets of American law,” the deans wrote. “Our American legal tradition has honored lawyers who, despite their personal beliefs, have zealously represented mass murderers, suspected terrorists, and Nazi marchers…. In a free and democratic society, government officials should not encourage intimidation of or retaliation against lawyers who are fulfilling their pro bono obligations.”

A Pentagon spokesman said Friday that Mr. Stimson’s views were not shared by the department’s leadership. The letter asks the administration to repudiate the statement.

The missive was circulated by the dean of Yale Law School, Harold Hongju Koh, and the dean of Northeastern University’s law school, Emily Spieler. The signers include the deans of law schools at Columbia, Fordham, New York University, and New York Law School.

A liberal Web log, tpmmuckraker.com, noted that two of the law firms representing a former White House official now on criminal trial in Washington, I. Lewis Libby, have also done work for Guantanamo detainees. The firms are Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP of Manhattan and Dechert LLP of Philadelphia.