Terms Expire Today For 11 Of Gonzales’ Handpicked Interim U.S. Attorneys

In 2006, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the Patriot Act to appoint 11 interim U.S. attorneys. But because the Senate revised the legislation in June, those attorneys’ terms expire today.

These 11 prosecutors now “find themselves at the mercy of the same U.S. district courts that the Justice Department saw fit to cut out of the U.S. Attorney appointment process last year.” The courts today will decide whether to reappoint these prosecutors who were handpicked by Gonzales and the White House.

Many judges and former U.S. attorneys believe that the federal courts today will be “less inclined than they have been in the past to rubber-stamping the attorney general’s interim picks.” As the Legal Times notes, “Some have served without Senate confirmation or court scrutiny for more than a year, inviting credibility questions.” A look at a couple of these prosecutors:

Coutinue reading at thinkprogress