Despite the tough posturing and all the talk about aggressive law enforcement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is still missing quite a few of those people he needs to do that: attorneys. More than a month after Sessions dismissed most of the federal prosecutors in the Justice Department, he hasn’t filled a single position. That’s right. Zero.
And it’s not like we’re talking about a dozen job openings. No.
There are 93 unfilled U.S. attorney positions that remain vacant, including the heads of vital departments like the civil rights, criminal, and national security divisions. The Bush and Obama administrations decided to ease through the normal transitions of new attorneys to prevent large scale backlogs of important litigation, but the Trump White House has gone for a more wholesale approach.
And while there are “acting” heads of these departments, former assistant attorney general Ronald Weich says it isn’t getting the job done:
“It’s like trying to win a baseball game without your first-string players on the field … There are human beings occupying each of those seats, but that’s not the same as having appointed and confirmed officials who represent the priorities of the administration. And the administration is clearly way behind in achieving that goal.”
Even the man currently running the day-to-day operations, Rod J. Rosenstein, hasn’t been confirmed yet. He’s up for deputy attorney general, the second in command in the Justice Department.
For an idea of just how behind the Trump administration is, by March of Barack Obama’s first term the Senate had already confirmed the deputy and associate attorneys general, along with Eric Holder. And considering that Jeff Sessions has claimed that he wants to reverse many of the Obama administration’s policies, he’d better get to work. If not, he could face roadblocks, says a former Justice Department spokesman:
“An acting U.S. attorney doesn’t speak with the same authority to a police chief or to a local prosecutor as a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney does. If you’re a Democrat, you’re probably happy to have these positions filled by career officials because they’re less likely to pursue some of the policies that Jeff Sessions supports. But if you’re a supporter of the president, you probably want them to move on those positions.”
Watch Jeff Sessions get himself in trouble already here:
Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.
