Career
Letten worked for Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. for four years. [2] In 1982,Letten became a federal prosecutor,beginning on an organized crime strike force. [2] He was part of the team that prosecuted several leaders of the New Orleans mafia and figures from the New York crime families. [2]
From 1994 to 2001,Letten was first assistant U.S. attorney under then-U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan Jr. (who later became Orleans Parish district attorney). [2] In that position Letten was best known as the lead prosecutor in the racketeering trial of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. [2] [4] Letten also prosecuted former state representative David Duke. [5]
U.S. Attorney
Letten is a Republican,having been appointed to the U.S. Attorney's position by President George W. Bush. Nonetheless,when Republicans lost the Presidency to Democrat Barack Obama in 2008,many Democrats,including U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu,took the unusual step of urging the new President to reappoint Letten. [6]
As U.S. Attorney,Letten became known for his "successful prosecutions of public officials," ranging from corrupt elected officials to corrupt judges,police officers,and school officials. [7] The New York Times described him as "a popular crusader against the crooked traditions of Louisiana public servants." [4]
The Times-Picayune listed the following as the notable public corruption cases in which the U.S. Attorney's Office achieved convictions under Letten's leadership:"ex-Jefferson Parish Judges Ronald Bodenheimer and Alan Green;former Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms;ex-state Sen. Derrick Shepherd;former St. Tammany Parish Councilman Joe Impastato;a whole bunch of folks who worked for or did business with the Orleans Parish School Board;several high-profile associates of ex-Mayor Marc Morial;and ex-New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas,who had been pegged as a front-runner in the 2010 mayor's race." [8] These successes gained Letten bipartisan support,including from both Louisiana's U.S. Senators,Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter. [8]
In September 2009,the Times-Picayune praised Letten and the FBI for "bringing to justice" Bill Hubbard,who resigned as Saint John Parish president after receiving bribes of $20,000 from contractors. [9]
After being retained in office by President Obama,Letten pursued a number of federal civil rights investigations into the New Orleans Police Department,a priority of the Obama administration's Department of Justice. [4]
In 2010,the conservative provocateur videographer/prankster James O'Keefe,"who specialized in often deceptively edited undercover camera work to expose what he considers to liberal hypocrisies," pleaded guilty to federal misdemeanor charges of entering the New Orleans offices of Senator Landrieu disguised as a telephone repairman and attempting to tamper with the office's phone system under false pretenses. [10] [11] fellow activists who accompanied O'Keefe also faced prosecution. [10] Although the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case,Letten recused himself because he knew the father of one of the men involved. [10] In July 2013,after Letten left the U.S. Attorney's office to become assistant dean at Tulane law school,O'Keefe appeared at Letten's home,where he complained to Letten's wife about his prosecution,and later confronted Letten on the Tulane campus in a tense videotaped exchange. Letten called O'Keefe "scum" and told him to "stay away from my family." [10] [11] [12]
In December 2012,Letten resigned as U.S. Attorney,following revelations that senior prosecutors in Letten's office had made "provocative,even pugnacious comments about active criminal matters and other subjects under aliases at nola.com,the Web site of The Times-Picayune newspaper." [4] Senator Mary Landrieu and Attorney General Eric Holder paid tribute to Letten's service. [4]
Later career
In February 2013,Letten was appointed assistant dean of experiential learning at Tulane University Law School,his alma mater. Letten is in charge of the school's moot-court competition and six legal clinics. [3] [13]
In November 2015,Letten joined the New Orleans office of the law firm Butler Snow LLP as of counsel. Letten works with the firm's investigations and white-collar crimes group. He continues to simultaneously serve as Tulane assistant dean. [7] [14]
Mary Loretta Landrieu is an American politician, entrepreneur, and former U.S. Senator for the state of Louisiana. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
David Conner Treen Sr. was an American politician and attorney from Louisiana. A member of the Republican Party, Treen served as U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 3rd congressional district from 1973 to 1980 and Governor of Louisiana from 1980 to 1984. Treen was the first Republican elected to both offices since Reconstruction.
Suzanne Haik Terrell is the first and only Republican woman elected to statewide office in Louisiana. A practicing attorney, Terrell was the state's final commissioner of elections, a position which she held from 2000 to 2004. In 2002, she was the Republican nominee for United States Senate, losing a hotly contested and closely watched race against incumbent Senator Mary Landrieu. In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Terrell to a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the United States Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. Terrell is currently a partner with the New Orleans law firm of Hangartner, Rydberg, and Terrell.
Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is a private law school in New Orleans, Louisiana affiliated with Loyola University New Orleans. Loyola's law school opened in 1914 and is now located on the Broadway Campus of the University in the historic Audubon Park District of the city. The College of Law is one of fourteen Jesuit law schools in the United States. It is also one of the few law schools in the nation to offer curricula in both Civil Law and Common Law. The school releases several academic journals, most notable of which is the Loyola Law Review.
Karen Carter Peterson is an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Louisiana State House from 1999 to 2010, then as the state senator from the 5th district until her resignation on April 9, 2022. She also served as the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party from 2012 to 2020, becoming the first female chair of the state party. Since 2008, Peterson has served as Democratic National Committeewoman for Louisiana. In 2017, Peterson was elected vice chair of civic engagement and voter participation for the Democratic National Committee.
Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in the United States.
Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. is an American lawyer and former politician. He served as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana from 2010 to 2013. From 2008 to 2009, he was a Democratic United States Representative from Louisiana's 6th congressional district.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese–American politician who was the U.S. representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he is the first Vietnamese American and first native of Vietnam to serve in Congress.
Brian Anthony Jackson is an American lawyer and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.
John P. Volz, Sr. was a prominent lawyer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and Presidents Ronald W. Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, both Republicans.
Nannette V. Jolivette Brown is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. She previously served in the role of city attorney for the city of New Orleans from the time that Mayor Mitch Landrieu hired her in May 2010 until becoming a federal judge in 2011. As city attorney, Brown was responsible for all city contracts and oversaw all legal matters for the city.
Stephen Andrew Higginson is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.
The 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 21, 2015, to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican Governor Bobby Jindal was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of term limits established by the Louisiana Constitution.
Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. is an American lawyer who is currently serving as the assistant attorney general for the criminal division in the United States Department of Justice since July 21, 2021. He previously served as a United States attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 2013 to 2017.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Louisiana took place on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Louisiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Wendy Baldwin Vitter is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Tania Christina Tetlow is an American lawyer and law professor who has been president of Loyola University New Orleans since 2018. She has been named president of Fordham University effective July 1, 2022. She is the first woman and the first layperson to hold each of those positions at those two Catholic universities.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
