March 19, 2007: PATRIOT ACT Patch-up To Fix U.S. Attorney Problem

Today the Senate is debating legislation, namely S.214.  In the bill's own words, this legislation will "preserve the independence of United States attorneys."  It seems that during the revision/re-authorization of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act in 2006, a provision was added to the Act giving to the Attorney General the power to appoint new U.S. Attorneys when a particular U.S. attorney position opened up (by resignation, firing, etc.)  This took out of the Senate's hands the power to confirm/reject candidates for U.S. attorney in these specific cases where a U.S. attorney vacated his/her position in the middle of a president's term.

No one probably thought much about this statute last year when the PATRIOT Act was going through a revision process, but now the statute has become significant.  When the Justice Department fired the nine U.S. attorneys recently, the job of replacing these attorneys fell to the auspices of the Attorney General alone.  The Senate was on the outside looking in.  Had the PATRIOT ACT not included such a provision, the Senate would have had the right to give its advice/consent as to potential replacements.

Today the Senate is considering a bill that will restore to the Senate its constitutional right to confirm/reject candidates for U.S. attorney to fill vacated spots mid-term.