The latest faux outrage seized the media-sphere this weekend when news reports noted Attorney General Sessions requested the resignation of those federal United States Attorneys that were yet to resign their posts, as is customary after a change of party in Presidential office. Every United States attorney had notice of this since November 9, 2016, the day after the election. The politically ambitious prosecutor of the Southern District of New York, former chief counsel for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, did a bit of grandstanding before he was fired, but not after opening up his own private twitter account more than a week ago for his anticipated departure from the office. This is commonplace, and the entitled right of the newly elected President. Indeed, a brief history of the timeline of the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York show they were out of office as early as less than a month after the election (Obama) or January (JFK). On top of that, back in 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno gave Jeff Sessions the boot when he was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.
A timeline of replacing United States Attorneys for the Southern District of New York after change-of-party Presidential election:
1829: Andrew Jackson replaced the prior United States Attorney by April
1841: William Harrison replaced the prior United States Attorney by March
1845: James Polk replaced the prior United States Attorney by March
1849: Zachary Taylor replaced the prior United States Attorney by March
1853: Franklin Pierce replaced the prior United States Attorney by April
1861: Abraham Lincoln replaced the prior United States Attorney by April
1885: Grover Cleveland replaced the prior United States Attorney by July
1889: Benjamin Harrison replaced the prior United States Attorney by September of 1889
1893: Grover Cleveland replaced the prior United States Attorney by February of 1894
1897: William McKinley replaced the prior United States Attorney by January of 1898
1912: Woodrow Wilson Grover Cleveland replaced the prior United States Attorney by May
1921: Warren Harding replaced the prior United States Attorney by May
1933: FDR replaced the prior United States Attorney by November
1953: Ike replaced the prior United States Attorney by April
1961: JGK replaced the prior United States Attorney by January
1973: Nixon replaced the prior United States Attorney by June
1977: Carter let Ford appointee Robert Fiske hang around
1981: Reagan waited until 1983 to bring on Rudy
1993: Clinton sent out a notice in March to get everyone to resign
2001: W. replaced the prior United States Attorney by January of 2002
2009: Obama replaced the prior United States Attorney immediately, as the prior AUSA resigned right after the election
Sessions Firing Letter by LawNewz on Scribd
Robert Barnes is a California-based trial attorney whose practice focuses on Constitutional, criminal and civil rights law. You can follow him at @Barnes_Law
[Screengrab via Vanity Fair]
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
