Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and former partner at the law firm of Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher &Flom.
The United States attorney for the Southern District of New York is the chief federal law enforcement officer in eight contiguous New York counties:the counties of New York (Manhattan) and Bronx,and the counties of Westchester,Putnam,Rockland,Orange,Dutchess,and Sullivan. Established by the Judiciary Act of 1789,the office represents the United States government in criminal and civil cases across the country. The SDNY handles a broad array of cases,including but not limited to those involving white collar crime,domestic terrorism,cybercrime,public corruption,organized crime,and civil rights disputes.
James Charles Kopp is an American who was convicted in 2003 for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Barnett Slepian,an American physician from Amherst,New York who performed abortions. Prior to his capture,Kopp was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 7,1999,he had become the 455th fugitive placed on the list by the FBI. He was affiliated with the militant Roman Catholic anti-abortion group known as The Lambs of Christ.
James Brien Comey Jr. is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his termination in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adult life;however,in 2016,he described himself as unaffiliated.
The following are controversial invocations of the USA PATRIOT Act. The stated purpose of the Act is to "deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world,to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools,and for other purposes." One criticism of the Act is that "other purposes" often includes the detection and prosecution of non-terrorist alleged future crimes.
Benamar "Ben" Benatta is an Algerian refugee claimant living in Canada. On September 12,2001,the day following the September 11 attacks in 2001,Benatta was turned over to United States authorities by Canada border guards,and was held in detention for nearly five years despite having been cleared of suspicions of terrorist activities by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
William Pelham Barr is an American attorney who served as the United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the administration of President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020.
Carol Chien-Hua Lam is a former United States Attorney for the Southern District of California. Lam was sworn into office on an interim basis on September 4,2002. On November 12,2002,Lam was further sworn in as a Senate confirmed presidential appointee. She oversaw the Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham military contracting corruption case. Lam was one of eight attorneys fired in the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy.
On December 7,2006,the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice ordered the midterm dismissal of seven United States attorneys. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White House were using the U.S. attorney positions for political advantage. The allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters. The U.S. attorneys were replaced with interim appointees,under provisions in the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization.
Paul K. Charlton is a former United States Attorney and current partner at the law firm of Dentons US LLP in the firm's Phoenix,Arizona office. Charlton concentrates his practice on high-profile and complex litigation,internal investigations and white-collar criminal defense. Charlton also represents a number of Arizona Native American governments,including Ak-Chin,Salt River Pima-Maricopa,Haulapai,the Navajo Nation,and Tohono O'odham.
This article about dismissed U.S. attorneys summarizes the circumstances surrounding a number of U.S. attorneys dismissed from office in the United States Department of Justice in 2006. Eight were dismissed In December 2006,and others may have been forced out of office under similar circumstances in 2005 and 2006. The manner of the firings,the congressional response to them,and the explanations offered by Bush administration officials are aspects of a political controversy starting in the first quarter of 2007. As of May 2007 a clear explanation of why the attorneys were dismissed had not been put forward by the Bush administration or the Department of Justice leadership. There are in total 93 U.S. attorneys that serve 94 Federal district courts.
A detailed chronology of events in the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy.
John Henry Durham is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 2018 to 2021. By April 2019,the Trump administration assigned him to investigate the origins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections,and in October 2020 he was appointed special counsel for the Department of Justice on that matter.
Nora Riordan Dannehy is an American attorney serving as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court since September 2023. She was previously appointed acting United States attorney for the District of Connecticut on April 4,2008. She was the first woman to hold the office,which was established in 1789.
Rod Jay Rosenstein is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment,he served as a United States attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as deputy attorney general in April 2017,he was the longest-serving U.S. attorney. Rosenstein had also been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2007,but his nomination was never considered by the U.S. Senate.
Loretta Elizabeth Lynch is an American lawyer who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York under Presidents Bill Clinton (1999–2001),George W. Bush (2001) and Obama (2010–2015). As a U.S. attorney,Lynch oversaw federal prosecutions in Brooklyn,Queens,Staten Island,and Long Island.
Dana James Boente ( Bent-Ë) is an American attorney who served as General Counsel of the FBI from January 2018 to 2020,United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from September 2013 to January 2018,and as the Acting United States Attorney General from January to February 2017. He also served as acting assistant attorney general for the National Security Division of the United States Department of Justice. On October 27,2017,Boente announced he would resign from the Department of Justice after a successor is in place. On January 23,2018,Boente was named general counsel to the FBI by the director Christopher A. Wray,filling the vacancy after James Baker's reassignment to another part of the bureau.
Geoffrey Steven Berman is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. He is a partner at the law firm Fried,Frank,Harris,Shriver &Jacobson.
The 2017-2019 Special Counsel investigation involved multiple legal teams,specifically the attorneys,supervised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller,taking part in the investigation;the team representing President Trump in his personal capacity;and the team representing the White House as an institution separate from the President.
Carolyn Pokorny is a career federal prosecutor,currently serving as First Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Previously she served as the Inspector General for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the Office of the MTA Inspector General. She is the first woman to hold that position.
