William F. Smith: “this legislation would return the procedures for appointing interim U.S. Attorneys to what it was before Congress…”

“this legislation would return the procedures for appointing interim U.S. Attorneys to what it was before Congress reauthorized the PATRIOT Act. Some have claimed that the PATRIOT Act's reform was used to avoid Senate confirmation of permanent U.S. attorneys. To prevent that alleged abuse, this bill, H.R. 580, was rushed headlong through the Judiciary Committee. One hearing was held on the bill. But that hearing focused mostly on the current U.S. Attorney controversy, not the bill, itself. It was then pushed immediately to the full committee, without an opportunity for subcommittee mark-up. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee would have liked to have worked more with the Democrats in a bipartisan fashion to improve the existing law. We might well have found a better solution. The majority's own witnesses at the hearing, for example, testified that much of the problem with the interim appointments process is the time it takes to obtain Senate confirmation. This bill, however, does not address that problem. Given more time, we might have considered some promising ideas from the other side of the Capitol. Senator Kyl, for example, proposed a 120-day interim appointment power for the Executive Branch, and a 120-day clock for the Senate to confirm permanent appointees. This would have addressed the principal problem. Senator Sessions proposed to set qualification standards for judicial appointments of interim appointees.”