DoJ Purge Figure Withdraws Nomination

It’s Friday afternoon. You know what that means: it’s time for a senior Justice Department official to resign.

This time it’s Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer, who, not so coincidentally, was due to have a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee this coming Tuesday. Mercer is one of the senior DoJ officials Kyle Sampson claims to have consulted about the firings.

But rather than undergo an unpleasant round of questioning, Mercer has withdrawn his name from consideration and will return to his other job; he’s the U.S. Attorney for Montana. Mercer — much to the chagrin of the chief judge in his district — has been pulling double duty since 2005. Considering that one of the supposed reasons for U.S. New Mexico David Iglesias’ firing was that he was an “absentee landlord,” Mercer was sure to have been asked about his own absenteeism.

Mercer follows the resignations of other DoJ purge figures Kyle Sampson, Monica Goodling, Michael Battle, Paul McNulty, and Michael Elston.