Constitutional Law

USA's Not (Necessarily) on the Chopping Block

Breaking with tradition, spokespersons say President Obama will not comprehensively replace all U.S. attorneys.

Historically, there has been extensive turnover among federal prosecutors with the arrival of a new administration. Upon taking office, President Clinton replaced nearly each of the 93 U.S. attorneys, while the latest President Bush accepted resignations over several months.

'We have made the determination that we are not going to replace wholesale all of the U.S. attorneys in the way that was done, I guess, in the Clinton administration,' Attorney General Eric Holder told an assembly of state attorneys general in D.C. recently.

Nearly one third of U.S. attorneys resigned before Obama took office – likely expecting wholesale replacements by the incoming administration. Another 12 have resigned since, leaving 50 attorneys in place who were appointed by Bush.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).