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Pat Leahy has a warning for his former colleagues about Trump’s US attorney gambit
Politico ^ | July 30, 2025 | Kyle Cheney

Posted on 07/31/2025 6:33:39 AM PDT by Ahithophel

Pat Leahy saw it coming.

In the throes of a 2007 scandal that seems quaint by modern standards, the then-Senate Judiciary chair issued a warning to all presidents: If you repeatedly sidestep the Senate to jam political loyalists into temporary U.S. attorney posts, you are violating the law. He was particularly concerned about “double dipping” — an effort by presidents to circumvent legal time limits on unconfirmed U.S. attorneys by creatively reshuffling personnel.

“It is not designed or intended to be used repeatedly for the same vacancy,” Leahy said at the time.

Fast forward to 2025: President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are seeking to shatter that check on presidential power, finding new ways to carry out the “double dipping” that Leahy warned against:

In Washington, D.C., after Trump’s initial pick Ed Martin failed to win Senate confirmation, Trump simply appointed a second interim prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, to a successive 120-day slot. In northern New York and Los Angeles, Bondi maneuvered to put Trump’s expiring U.S. attorney picks into “acting” roles that would give them another 210 days on the job without Senate confirmation. And in New Jersey, the Justice Department went nuclear after district court judges appointed a career prosecutor to replace Trump’s favored pick, Alina Habba, as temporary U.S. attorney — a power the courts have had since the Civil War. An aggressive effort to keep Habba in place has already disrupted a handful of criminal cases in New Jersey. With a largely compliant, Republican-led Congress, Trump has faced minimal pushback. But the campaign presages battles to come, particularly in blue states where Democratic senators still wield significant sway over who can be confirmed as permanent U.S. attorneys.

It’s the latest expression of Trump’s effort to shrug off traditional constraints on presidential power and relegate Congress

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: attorney; leahy; senate; trump

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1 posted on 07/31/2025 6:33:39 AM PDT by Ahithophel
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To: Ahithophel

It’s Politico, Jake.


2 posted on 07/31/2025 6:37:02 AM PDT by mfish13 (Elections have Consequences.)
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To: Ahithophel

Who the hell is Pat Leahy and why is this any of his business?


3 posted on 07/31/2025 6:37:16 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("Kamala Harris would have been the next Abraham Lincoln". - Jeff "Dumber" Daniels.)
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To: Ahithophel
you are violating the law

Which law?

4 posted on 07/31/2025 6:39:25 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The list of things I no longer care about is long. And it's getting longer.)
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To: Ahithophel

Then stop delaying and bring Trump’s nominations up for a vote.


5 posted on 07/31/2025 6:40:22 AM PDT by Petrosius
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Pat Leahy is a retired Vermont Senator. Yep Democrat!!!


6 posted on 07/31/2025 6:41:38 AM PDT by LoveMyFreedom
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To: Ahithophel

Leaky Leahy?? Shut up and go away!


7 posted on 07/31/2025 6:41:54 AM PDT by Vesuvian
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To: Petrosius

Yep, they do not like being outsmarted. If you outsmart them, you must be a criminal.

They get away with it because the media carries the water for them!


8 posted on 07/31/2025 6:43:13 AM PDT by Racketeer
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To: LoveMyFreedom

Geez. I thought he died. Like they say. Only the good die young.


9 posted on 07/31/2025 6:44:36 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("Kamala Harris would have been the next Abraham Lincoln". - Jeff "Dumber" Daniels.)
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To: Ahithophel

Stop the blue slip. It is tradition and not law.


10 posted on 07/31/2025 6:44:38 AM PDT by gunnut
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To: FlingWingFlyer

“LEAKY LEAHY” was a Democrat Senator who spoke up out of turn and let the al Qaeda know that their phone messages were being intercepted by the various US intelligence agencies and transcribed, as there was no attempt by al Qaeda to encrypt their phone messages, and they were openly speaking in Arabic.

Suddenly, a great source of intelligence was dried up.

Pat Leahy should have been charged with treason.


11 posted on 07/31/2025 6:44:44 AM PDT by alloysteel (Try to understand, God is not finished with me yet. Still lots of room for improvement.)
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To: Ahithophel

Pat leakey should be reminded that if the Democrats continue to stall appointments, they leave Republicans no choice. You started this war, Senator Depends.


12 posted on 07/31/2025 6:45:20 AM PDT by silent majority rising (When it is dark enough, men see the stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
Pat Leahy is the corporeal embodiment of all that is fetid and foul in the body politic. His hypocrisy is unbounded for it was he and his party that gave us the verb to Bork a nominee, including nominees to be Attorneys General as well as Justices.


13 posted on 07/31/2025 6:50:29 AM PDT by nathanbedford (Attack, repeat, attack! - Bull Halsey)
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To: LoveMyFreedom

Every democrat, without exception, are worse for my pocket book than any Liberal Republican RINO.


14 posted on 07/31/2025 6:51:03 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (TERM LIMITS is the ONLY WAY to get rid of corrupt cas filreer politicians. )
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To: Petrosius

No one cares what Pat thinks.


15 posted on 07/31/2025 7:08:21 AM PDT by chopperk
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To: chopperk
What would Pat say?

16 posted on 07/31/2025 7:16:32 AM PDT by Waverunner (Torah! Torah! Torah! my favorite IDF radio code.)
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To: Ahithophel

Looks like Leaky has diaper rash and it’s making him ornery


17 posted on 07/31/2025 7:23:06 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Just a guy who was third in line to the presidency.

During the obama eligibility, he actually was against him and led the Senate committee SR-511 (probably got the numbers mixed up) for defining natural born citizen. They discussed him not being vetted, as well. They called in Homeland Security Dir. Chertoff. It was agreed obama wasn’t a NBC so wasn’t eligible. He had the discussion on his website at one time. Yes, Leahy is democrat but he stood up for the Constitution. However, once the bill got to the floor of the Senate, the dems caved and ruined the country.


18 posted on 07/31/2025 7:23:39 AM PDT by bgill
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To: Ahithophel
It's OK when Dems do it.

The Dems and the legacy press look so stupid.

19 posted on 07/31/2025 7:24:25 AM PDT by CptnObvious
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To: Ahithophel
The company he kept...


20 posted on 07/31/2025 7:32:54 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (If [mortals] are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it? —Benjamin Franklin)
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