"Early in his administration, Donald Trump strong-armed senators to confirm Cabinet appointees; later, unable to get around the objections of a few Democratic senators, he deployed a complicated legal shell game to install a handful of prosecutors to top positions in blue states across the country. Five courts have now rejected this scheme-creating a significant mess for the Justice Department and calling into question the longevity of Trump's strategy to evade congressional checks and hand prosecutorial power to his loyalists."
"But the chaos crystallizes Trump's disregard for rules, distaste for professionalism, and obsessive need to turn the regular work of government into an engine of personal advantage. The U.S. attorneys who head these offices, scattered across 94 federal districts, take the lead in enforcing federal law around the country. For that reason, these illegal appointees are central to Trump's effort to use the Justice Department as a political tool: Without any Senate oversight, the president granted them the authority to harass his enemies."
The Senate’s advice-and-consent power has eroded as the president bypassed Senate oversight to place loyalists into top Justice Department posts. Early pressure secured Cabinet confirmations; later, a legal shell game attempted to install personal lawyers as U.S. attorneys in Democratic-leaning districts. Five courts have rejected those appointments, including rulings invalidating Alina Habba in New Jersey and Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia. U.S. attorneys lead enforcement across 94 federal districts, and unlawful installations risk turning the Justice Department into a political instrument by placing prosecutorial authority in the hands of presidential loyalists.
Read at The Atlantic
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