This is interesting. Dan Eggen’s article in this morning’s Post discusses the growing trend in the Gonzales Justice Department to have sitting US Attorneys have second postings at Main Justice in Washington DC. As Eggen explains, six US Attorneys currently have second postings in DC. So they’re basically absentee US Attorneys.
This isn’t against the law and it’s not unprecedented. But as Eggen explains, “the number of U.S. attorneys pulling double duty in Washington is the focus of growing concern from other prosecutors and from members of the federal bench, according to legal experts and government officials.”
Now, here’s what Eggen doesn’t mention. We know about the provision of the revised USA Patriot that allows for non-senate-confirmed US Attorneys. But TPM’s David Kurtz has just been digging back in to the Patriot Act revision and he’s found that they also got something in about this. The revised Patriot Act gives the Attorney General the power to set aside the US Attorney residency requirements. Here’s the text …
SEC. 501. RESIDENCE OF UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS AND ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS.
(a) In General- Subsection (a) of section 545 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `Pursuant to an order from the Attorney General or his designee, a United States attorney or an assistant United States attorney may be assigned dual or additional responsibilities that exempt such officer from the residency requirement in this subsection for a specific period as established by the order and subject to renewal.’.
(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect as of February 1, 2005.
Now, this isn’t as egregious or as clear-cut as the no-confirmation provision. But having US Attorneys actually operating out of Main Justice does fit with the broader Gonzales program of centralization and politicization of the Justice Department. So maybe there’s still more to this story hidden in the Patriot Act renewal from 2005. Maybe someone should actually give it a look?
