Justice

Law and Order. Or Maybe Not.

Written by SK Ashby

Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions may have (horrible and destructive) plans to restore "law and order," but they've already made the job much more difficult than it normally would be.

As you know, all U.S. attorneys were fired last month, but the Trump regime hasn't replaced a single one of them.

The 93 unfilled U.S. attorney positions are among the hundreds of critical Trump administration jobs that remain open. [...]

Sessions said that until he has his replacements, career acting U.S. attorneys “respond pretty well to presidential leadership.”

But former Justice Department officials say that acting U.S. attorneys do not operate with the same authority when interacting with police chiefs and other law enforcement executives.

I didn't expect I would ever say this, but perhaps we should hope these positions are never filled.

Yes, U.S. attorneys are vital for prosecuting fraud and corruption and enforcing civil rights laws, but there's not necessarily any guarantee that doing those things will be a priority for attorneys hand-picked by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. Their idea of civil rights may be something else entirely, like the alleged persecution of Christian, straight, white people who don't want to bake cakes for gay couples.

U.S. attorneys require Senate confirmation and the Trump regime hasn't even nominated anyone yet. At this rate, it could be many months or even years before they're filled, if ever.

There's are good reasons why attorneys appointed by the previous administration are typically allowed to continue serving while the incoming administration searches for replacements. It takes time to nominate and confirm replacements and abruptly removing sitting attorneys could interrupt ongoing investigations.