Latest Developments, US Attorney Purge

Posted by Barbara O'Brien at 2:00 PM on February 16, 2007.

Yesterday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein that would have curbed the Justice Department's power to fire and replace federal prosecutors. Laurie Kellman writes for the Associated Press:

The objection by Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to the proposal was long anticipated. So Democrats used the occasion to complain anew about the firings of at least seven prosecutors, some without cause, under a little-known part of the Patriot Act.

Democrats say Attorney General Alberto Gonzales used the law to get around the Senate confirmation process and install Republican allies.

Here's the punch line:

Gonzales, Kyl and other Republicans say this approach could lead prosecutors to be appointed for reasons other than their qualifications.

Some people have no shame.

The other new development is that former Karl Rove assistant Tim Griffin, who was appointed to replace Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, has decided he won't go forward with the Senate confirmation process because he thinks the Senate will be mean to him. Details beneath the fold.

As explained in a PEEK post last month, US attorneys are being purged for no clear reason and being replaced by White House insiders.

A President certainly has the authority to fire and replace US attorneys. Indeed, newly elected presidents routinely fire their predecessor's appointees and appoint all new prosecutors. However (1) it is highly unusual for US attorneys to be fired and replaced in mid-term except in cases of gross misconduct; and (2) the real issue is a provision in the Patriot Act that allows the White House to circumvent the constitutional requirement to have the appointee confirmed by the Senate.

As Paul Krugman wrote in the January 19 New York Times, "the Bush administration is trying to protect itself by purging independent-minded prosecutors." Obviously.

Feinstein's bill essentially would have overwritten that part of the Patriot Act that allows the White House to appoint "interim" attorneys who can serve indefinitely without Senate confirmation.

A couple of days ago Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers reported that several of the US attorneys fired by Bush II had good performance reviews. And their replacements are being selected from the inner circle of the Bush Administration.

The Bush administration has said that six U.S. attorneys were fired recently in part because of “performance-related” issues.

But at least five of them received positive job evaluations before they were ordered to step down. ...

... The decision to fire the U.S. attorneys came under scrutiny late last month after Senate Democrats discovered a change in the Patriot Act that allowed Gonzales to appoint interim U.S. attorneys for indefinite terms without Senate approval.

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, McNulty conceded that H.E. Cummins, the former U.S. attorney in Arkansas, wasn’t fired because of how he handled his job. Rather, McNulty said, administration officials wanted to make room for Timothy Griffin, a former aide of presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Cummins was involved in the federal investigation into Missouri’s license fee offices, an investigation first revealed by The Kansas City Star. His office was asked to determine if Gov. Matt Blunt’s administration had improperly awarded the sometimes lucrative offices to political supporters.

Last October, before he officially resigned but apparently after he was asked by the Justice Department to step down, Cummins issued a statement clearing the Blunt administration of wrongdoing.

This morning, Paul Kiel posted at TPM that Tim Griffin has decided he won't go forward with the Senate confirmation process because he thinks the Senate will be mean to him. Kiel quotes the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

“I have made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate,” Griffin said Thursday evening....

Griffin on Thursday blamed “the partisanship that has been exhibited by Sen. [Mark ] Pryor [D-Ark. ] and other senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the recent hearing” for his decision to bow out....

Griffin said Thursday that if he were to go through the confirmation process, “I don’t think there is any way I could get fair treatment by Sen. Pryor or others on the judiciary committee.”

Poor baby. Kiel continues,

It's been a rough couple weeks for Griffin, who was the most egregious case among the seven prosecutors purged in December. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty admitted to the Senate last week that Griffin's predecessor had been forced out for no other reason than to make room for Griffin. And this morning, The New York Times revealed that Griffin had been installed as per the wish of White House counsel Harriet Miers.

There does seem to be some question, though, as to why Griffin is bowing out...

Pryor’s spokesman, Michael Teague, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday, after Griffin said he was withdrawing his name from consideration, that [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales himself had called Pryor earlier Thursday “and told the senator he was not going to submit Tim Griffin’s name.”

It seems clear that the threat of Senate confirmation ended Griffin's tenure -- but who it spooked more, the administration or Griffin himself, is not so clear.

The only reason Griffin was facing Senate confirmation at all, Constitution or no Constitution, was pressure from the Senate and the press. However, Thanks to that pesky Patriot Act Griffin can still hold the job indefinitely.

See also: "Speedy Gonzales"; "The Purge."