Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Summary

Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Summary

This article about dismissed U.S. attorneys summarizes the circumstances surrounding a number of U.S. attorneys dismissed from office in the United States Department of Justice in 2006. Eight were dismissed In December 2006, and others may have been forced out of office under similar circumstances in 2005 and 2006. The manner of the firings, the congressional response to them, and the explanations offered by Bush administration officials are aspects of a political controversy starting in the first quarter of 2007. As of May 2007 a clear explanation of why the attorneys were dismissed had not been put forward by the Bush administration or the Department of Justice leadership. There are in total 93 U.S. attorneys that serve 94 Federal district courts (two Pacific island territory districts share one attorney).

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
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Articles
  • Timeline
  • Summary of attorneys
  • Documents
  • Congressional hearings
  • List of dismissed attorneys
  • Complete list of related articles
G. W. Bush administration officials involved
  • Fred F. Fielding, White House Counsel
  • William K. Kelley, Deputy White House Counsel
  • William Moschella, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General
  • Brett Tolman, U.S. Attorney, District of Utah, former counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee
  • Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Pennsylvania, former Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys from 2004 to 2005
Involved administration officials who resigned
  • Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel
  • Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General
  • Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys
  • Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General
  • Monica Goodling, Justice Department's liaison to the White House
  • William W. Mercer, U.S. Attorney, Acting Associate Attorney General (retains position as U.S. Attorney in Montana)
  • Sara Taylor, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs
  • Paul McNulty, Deputy Attorney General
  • Harriet Miers, former White House Counsel (resigned prior to publicity surrounding the controversy, effective January 31, 2007)
  • Karl Rove, White House Deputy Chief of Staff
  • Bradley Schlozman, Director Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for, and later Principal Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; former interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
110th Congress
  • Patrick Leahy, Chair (D)
  • Arlen Specter, Ranking member, former Chair (R)
  • Chuck Schumer, Chair: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts (D)
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
110th Congress
  • John Conyers, Chair (D)
  • Lamar Smith, Ranking member (R)
  • Linda Sánchez, Chair: Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (D)
See also: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy timeline

Read more about Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Summary:  List of Dismissed Attorneys, David Iglesias, Kevin Ryan, John McKay, Paul Charlton, Carol Lam, Daniel Bogden, Margaret Chiara

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