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 ...
His hyper partisan opinion of what is legal or not is meaningless.
Leaky Leahy is still alive? He’s older than dirt.
The filibuster is not “the law”, it is a Senate rule. There is no breaking of any law when the majority changes the rules, like has been done quite often over the decades.
Exactly!
You don't remember dembulb "Leaky Leahy"?
Then schedule votes on his appointments. Also what makes this guy the “voice of reason”.
Barf
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