Resignations by US Attorneys Create Opportunity for Senate GOP to Maintain Influence Over Biden DOJ
By Shipwreckedcrew | Dec 19, 2020 3:45 PM ET
Pres. Trump appears to be on course to be only the third one-term President in 40 years. The transition from one party to the other after a one-term Presidency is markedly different than the transition following two terms. In the latter circumstance, the outgoing Administration has a significant number of political appointees who are the second or third persons to occupy the position over the eight years of the Administration, and they took the position generally recognizing their “expiration date†would be the next election. Even if the White House did not change parties, a new POTUS would want to be able to put supporters into significant positions.
But when the transition comes after only one-term, most political appointees are not preparing to leave already as the election approaches and departures can be much more haphazard and unplanned. I was in my first year with DOJ in 1992 when George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, and I had a front-row seat to how that transition took place. I can’t express any opinions about other departments of agencies, but I can say that DOJ is heavily influenced in its functioning by the people who hold the position of US Attorney in the 93 US Attorneys’ Offices around the country. A very large percentage of the work done by DOJ takes place far outside Washington DC, and includes a significant amount of “discretionary†judgment at the local level about what cases to bring and what cases to decline. The oversight from DC comes almost exclusively from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General and the Attorney General, not other sections of Main Justice.
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https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/12/19/resignations-by-us-attorneys-create-opportunity-for-gop-to-maintain-influence-over-biden-doj-n297270
