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Washington, D.C. - Rep. Howard Berman, Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, applauded the quick action of the Senate Judiciary Committee in reporting a bill today to provide for a 120-day limit to the term of a United States attorney appointed on an interim basis by the Attorney General.
"I was pleased to see that the Senate Judiciary Committee acted quickly on behalf of the integrity of the appointment process for U.S. Attorneys," said Berman. "The House Judiciary Committee will follow suit."
Since passage of the PATRIOT Act, the Attorney General can unilaterally appoint U.S. attorneys who can serve without Senate confirmation. Berman, joined by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Subcommittee on Crime Chairman Bobby Scott, has introduced legislation to repeal that provision.
The bill is in response to seven recent resignations of U.S. attorneys from all over the country. It will require Senate confirmation of any interim U.S. attorneys, including any tapped to replace those seven.
"We expect a hearing on the House bill in the first week of March," said Berman, "followed almost immediately by a mark-up. We intend to move this legislation very quickly." The hearing will be conducted by the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, chaired by Rep. Linda Sanchez.
"The provision that granted this new power to the Attorney General was slipped into the PATRIOT Act reauthorization at the request of the Department of Justice at a time when Republican negotiators were excluding Democrats," noted Berman. "This "lockout" at the end of the process was part of the reason that the majority of House Democrats opposed the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act."
"It should come as no surprise," said Chairman John Conyers, "that many of the prosecutors who were told to resign were involved in high-profile investigations, sometimes involving political officials. This legislation would restore to Congress and the federal judiciary their role in overseeing the appointment of federal prosecutors." |
