Also shown the door was David C. Iglesias of Albuquerque. Democrats charge that his departure is linked to veiled attempts by two Republican lawmakers to speed up action on a Democratic corruption scandal before last year's midterm election.
U.S. attorneys are appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure. They can be fired at his whim. But what has made these dismissals remarkable is that most of them were done the same day, Dec. 7. The firings were followed by a strong hint from Washington that the group should not make any noise in the media or before Congress.
As originally structured, the system gave prosecutors leeway to decide which cases to take, when to serve subpoenas and whom to target with indictments. Washington has tended to serve a supporting role, providing resources and expertise to carry out investigations and trials, and prodding the district offices on the president's top priorities, such as immigration and drugs.
More recently, especially since Sept. 11, 2001, Washington seems to be taking a greater role in overseeing cases.
Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. attorney in Las Vegas until his recent firing, felt the tension of competing priorities. The Justice Department, he said, wanted him to stay vigilant on a raft of issues, particularly terrorism, violent crime and drug enforcement. At the same time, being in a Western state where gambling is legal, he tried to concentrate on public corruption, money laundering and fraud.
"I felt I was doing my job," he said in an interview Saturday.
That made it all the more baffling when he was fired and was not afforded a reasonable answer for his dismissal, he said. First, Justice Department officials cited unspecified performance issues. Next, it was policy issues, he said. This past week he learned he was replaced to make room for "new blood."
"I don't know what to think," he said. "I'm just trying to get away from all this."
Carl Tobias, a law school professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said there had always been tension, "especially for those in the West." He said that U.S. attorneys know the local legal culture, including local law enforcement, judges and juries, and want the autonomy.
Mary Jo White, who was one of the longest-serving U.S. attorneys, running the Manhattan office from 1993 to 2002, said that each region was different, and that Washington should not be so unbending as to refuse to acknowledge special needs in various cities. "One size doesn't fit all," she said.
