Under Obama, no mass firings of U.S. attorneys

An interesting article about the hiring process for US Attorneys. (Disregard the title, as that's not at all what the article actually says, rather indicating that there simply hasn't been a mass turnover as of yet.)

Under Obama, no mass firings of U.S. attorneys -- baltimoresun.com

However, here's the reallllllly interesting part:

When Barack Obama took office in January, the legal community braced itself for a politically motivated, mass firing of the nation's 93 federal prosecutors. But it never came. Instead, the new president asked the 50 or so U.S. Attorneys who hadn't already quit to stay put until successors could be found.

In Maryland, that could take a while.

Politicians on both sides of the political aisle are fans of incumbent U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, a George W. Bush appointee, and they're in no hurry to usher him out. It's even possible that they could ask him to stay.

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The U.S. attorneys are considered the nation's legal leaders in their respective regions, conducting most of the trial work in which the United States is a party. Rosenstein has made a name for himself prosecuting violent criminals, in particular gang members, drug pushers and murderers.

"We have had an egregious U.S. attorney and we've had some that have been better than others. Right now, we just happen to have a very good one. The reputation of the office once again is high, and the morale is great," Gansler said in an interview. His office works closely with the federal prosecutors, and he called Rosenstein "wonderful" and ultimately "apolitical."

Sens. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, both Democrats, have publicly praised him, as has Gov. Martin O'Malley. In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, O'Malley said Rosenstein "has shown unprecedented cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies" and set the path for a successor to follow.

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Wow! So it sounds like this Rosenstein guy is beloved by all, including all the powerful Democrats in his state. His name does sound familiar...I wonder where from?

Rod J. Rosenstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Rosenstein graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.S. in Economics, summa cum laude in 1986. He earned his J.D. degree cum laude in 1989 from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He then served as a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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Pretty damn impressive, but that's not it.

During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Rosenstein served as Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Philip B. Heymann (1993 - 1994) and Special Assistant to Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General Jo Ann Harris (1994 - 1995).

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Great bipartisan credentials, but that's not it either.

On November 15, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Mr. Rosenstein to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to a seat vacated by Francis Dominic Murnaghan, Jr., who had died on August 31, 2000.

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Bush has unsuccessfully tried to fill the seat three times. During the spring of 2001, Bush intended to nominate Washington, D.C. lawyer Peter Keisler, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, to the Maryland seat on the Fourth Circuit, but was blocked from doing so by Democratic senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski on the grounds that he wasn't sufficiently a member of the Maryland legal community

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Rosenstein, a state resident, was afterwards nominated to fill the Maryland seat. Again using the excuse that the nominee didn't have strong enough Maryland legal ties, Mikulski and new Democratic Maryland senator, Benjamin Cardin, blocked Rosenstein's confirmation. Due to the opposition of Maryland's senators, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, refused to grant Rosenstein a hearing during the 110th Congress.

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That's where I remember the name from.

Huh. It's funny how when Bush was nominating him to be a federal judge, the Democratic Senators did everything they could to keep him from taking the seat, but now that Obama's DoJ says that they like him, they have nothing but praise.

I bet the Democrats loved him, until they realized he was a Republican appointee.
Partisanship trumps quality of candidate.

Rosenstein, a state resident, was afterwards nominated to fill the Maryland seat. Again using the excuse that the nominee didn't have strong enough Maryland legal ties, Mikulski and new Democratic Maryland senator, Benjamin Cardin, blocked Rosenstein's confirmation. Due to the opposition of Maryland's senators, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, refused to grant Rosenstein a hearing during the 110th Congress.

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Sens. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, both Democrats, have publicly praised him, as has Gov. Martin O'Malley. In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, O'Malley said Rosenstein "has shown unprecedented cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies" and set the path for a successor to follow.

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I'm puzzled by this.

Arch Enemy said:

I bet the Democrats loved him, until they realized he was a Republican appointee.
Partisanship trumps quality of candidate.

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The hilarious part is that his first job was in the Clinton Administration, so it's not like the guy is some far-right nut either.

RightinNYC said:

The hilarious part is that his first job was in the Clinton Administration, so it's not like the guy is some far-right nut either.

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Haha. Left or Right only determines how likely a person is to convert to the other party