Zane D. Memeger (Morgan Lewis)

Zane D. Memeger (James Madison University, University of Virginia School of Law) is nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He would replace Patrick L. Meehan, who resigned in July 2008 to run for Congress. The district’s current interim U.S. Attorney is Michael L. Levy.

Memeger’s vitals:

• Born in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1964.
• Has been a partner in the litigation practice group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Philadelphia since October 2006. Was an associate in the group from September 1991 to April 1995.
• Was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from May 1995 to September 2006.
• Worked as a summer associate at Bayard, Handelman & Murdoch, Pennsylvania (now Bayard, PA) in Wilmington, Del., 1989.
• Was a paralegal at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C., from July 1986 to August 1988.
• Has tried 10 cases to verdict, serving as sole counsel in five cases and associate or co-counsel in the remaining five cases.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Office of Government Ethics questionnaire Memeger reported earning a $390,000 from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for 2009 and the first few months of 2010.

On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Memeger reported assets valued at $851,200, mostly from his personal residence, and $396,400 in liabilities, mostly from a mortgage on the property, for a net worth of $454,800.

Don Cazayoux (Gov)

Donald J. Cazayoux (Louisiana State University, Georgetown University Law Center) is nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana. He would replace Bush holdover David R. Dugas, who became the district’s head prosecutor in 2001. Dugas announced on Wednesday he would resign, effective April 24 to join a private law firm.

His vitals:

• Born in Baton Rouge, La., in 1964.
• Earned a master’s degree from Louisiana State University in August 1993.
• Attended but did not earn a degree from Louisiana State University Law Center.
• Has been an assistant district attorney in Plaquemine, La., since 2009.
• Has been a mediator with Perry Dampf Dispute Solutions in Baton Rouge since 2009.
• Has had his own private law firm in New Roads, La., since 2009.
• Has worked at the Jewell and Jewell in New Roads since 2009. Also worked for the firm in 2008.
• Was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana’s 6th District in 2008-2009.
• Was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008.
• Was a board member for the Catholic of Pointe Coupee in New Roads from 1996 to 1999.
• Was the director of Ambel Corporation in Cottonport, La., from 1993 to 2006.
• Has been the president of the New Roads Lions Club in New Roads since 1996.
• Was a law clerk and associate at Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy in Baton Rouge from 1991 to 1994.
• Clerked for Kean Miller Hawthorne D’Armond McCowan & Jarman LLP in Baton Rouge in 1990.
• Clerked for Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips in Baton Rouge in 1990.
• Clerked for Rust, Rust & Silver in Fairfax, Va., from 1989 to 1990.
• Clerked for Mathews, Atkinson, Guglielmo, Marks & Day in Baton Rouge in 1989.
• Was a teaching and research assistant at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge from 1986 to 1988.
• Worked as a psychology technician at CPC Meadow Wood in Baton Rouge in 1986.
• Estimates that he has tried at least 75 cases to verdict. Acted as sole counsel in about 10 of those cases, chief counsel in approximately 50 of those cases and associate counsel in approximately 15 cases.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Cazayoux reported assets valued at $825,700, mostly from real estate and securities, and $43,000 in liabilities for a net worth of $782,700.

John Walsh (Hill & Robbins PC)

John F. Walsh (Williams College, Stanford Law School) is nominated to be U.S. Attorney for Colorado. He would replace Troy Eid, who became a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Denver in January 2009, as the Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney for the district. The district’s current interim U.S. Attorney is David M. Gaouette.

Walsh’s vitals:

• Born in New York, N.Y., in 1961.
• Attended but did not earn a degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
• Has been a partner at Hill & Robbins PC in Denver since October 1999.
• Worked at Holland & Hart LLP in Denver from 1995 to 1999. Served as partner and of counsel.
• Was a legal commentator for CBS News from 1996 to 1999.
• Worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California from 1987 to 1995.
• Clerked for Judge J. Skelly Wright in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., from 1986 to 1987.
• Has tried approximately 25 cases, serving as chief counsel on all of these cases with the exception of one case, in which he served as second chair.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Office of Government Ethics questionnaire Walsh reported receiving a membership draw from Hill & Robbins PC of $103,751.

On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Walsh reported assets valued at $2.4 million, mostly from two real estate properties, and $696,000 in liabilities, mostly from mortgages on the properties, for a net worth of $1.7 million.

U.K.-based drug maker AstraZeneca PLC will pay about $520 million to resolve allegations the company promoted off-label uses for the antipsychotic Seroquel, the Justice Department said.

The drug maker disclosed in October that it had set aside $520 million for the resolution, which includes a civil settlement and corporate integrity agreement.

Attorney General Eric Holder announces the settlement with AstraZeneca. (photo by Ryan Reilly / Main Justice)

Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the settlement Tuesday, along with Tony West, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, and acting U.S. Attorney Michael Levy of Pennsylvania’s Eastern District.

Drug makers are barred from marketing off-label, or for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Seroquel, whose sales reached $4.9 billion in 2009, is approved to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

According to the department, AstraZeneca promoted Seroquel to psychiatrists and other physicians for unapproved uses, including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleeplessness.

The company targeted doctors who did not typically treat patients for its approved uses, such as primary care physicians, and pediatric and adolescent physicians, according to the department.

The drug maker was also accused of enlisting doctors to give speeches promoting off-label uses of the drug, and recruiting them as authors of ghostwritten articles on studies the doctors did not conduct. AstraZeneca then brandished the articles in promotional messages about unapproved uses of Seroquel, the department alleged.

The drug maker allegedly submitted false claims for payment to a variety of federal insurance programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE programs, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Bureau of Prisons.

“Illegal acts by pharmaceutical companies and false claims against Medicare and Medicaid can put the public health at risk, corrupt medical decisions by health care providers, and take billions of dollars directly out of taxpayers’ pockets,” Holder said. ”We will not let such actions stand.”

Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca made no admission of wrongdoing.

The federal government will receive about $302 million and state Medicaid programs and the District of Columbia will share the remaining $218 million.

The investigation spawned from whistleblowers’ complaints filed in 2004 and 2006 in federal court in Philadelphia. One of the whistleblowers, James Wetta, was also a relator in the government’s investigation of Eli Lilly & Co. for off-label marketing of its antipsychotic Zyprexa. The drug maker agreed to pay $1.4 billion to resolve the allegations last year.

In a record-breaking settlment last year, Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay $2.3 billion to resolve allegations it improperly promoted pain reliever Bextra.

Allergan, Inc., which makes the wrinkle-remover Botox, filed a lawsuit against the FDA in October challenging the ban on off-label marketing on First Amendment grounds. The company claims the practice infringes commercial free speech and free speech in general.

The AstraZeneca settlement agreement is embedded below.

Scan 4.27.10

Solicitor General Elena Kagan

Solicitor General Elena Kagan previously served on an advisory board for Goldman Sachs, a position that could complicate her nomination if she is selected to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Kagan served on Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute from 2005 to 2008, according to financial disclosures she filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee when she was nominated as Solicitor General last year. She received $10,000 stipend in 2008 for her service.

Goldman Sachs has come under fire in recent weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit alleging the company defrauded customers who bought investments tied to risky mortgages.

Northwestern University law professor Lee Epstein, an expert on judicial nominations, told USA Today that her opponents might try to play up the position with Goldman Sachs.

“One side will pick apart anything a nominee has done,” Epstein said. “Here, Goldman Sachs doesn’t have a lot of fans. It may make things more complicated for her.”

Read the full story here.

The former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana will be joining the law firm McGlinchey Stafford PLLC in its Baton Rouge office, the firm announced Tuesday.

The Associated Press first reported the news.

David Dugas headed the office based in Baton Rouge from 2001 until he resigned last week.

According to the firm, Dugas will become the chairman of the national practice in energy and he will co-chair its governmental investigations team.

President George W. Bush nominated Dugas to the position in 2001 and the Senate confirmed him later that year. Before becoming U.S. Attorney, he was a partner at Caffery, Oubre, Dugas & Campbell, LLP (now Caffery, Oubre, Campbell & Garrison LLP).

In early April, President Barack Obama nominated Don Cazayoux, a former member of the U.S. House, to replace Dugas. After Dugas resigned, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed James Stanley “Stan� Lemelle as the interim U.S. Attorney.

A former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois will receive an American Inns of Court’s 2010 Professionalism Award for the 7th Circuit, the group announced Monday.

Dan K. Webb (Winston & Strawn)

The legal mentoring organization will honor Dan K. Webb, who led the Chicago-based U.S. Attorney’s office from 1981 to 1984, at a ceremony next week for his “unquestioned integrity and a remarkable dedication to our profession and the rule of law.”  The American Inns of Court noted Webb’s leadership as U.S. Attorney in the “Operation Greylord” judicial corruption probes that led to prison sentences for 76 judges, police officials and lawyers in Cook County, Ill.

Webb is currently the chairman of Winston & Strawn LLP. He is one of the country’s most prominent white-collar defense attorneys and has represented public figures in corruption probes, from former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) to former Illinois Gov. George Ryan (R). Read more about Webb here.

This story was updated with additional biographical information.

Please send news of moves, promotions and honors to personnelchanges@mainjustice.com.

Betsy Jividen (DOJ)

Northern District of West Virginia Acting U.S. Attorney Betsy Jividen can apply for new business cards on Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey for the Northern District of West Virginia swore in Jividen as U.S. Attorney Friday, The Associated Press reported. Jividen, a 30 year veteran of the office, is a career prosecutor who has led the office since September 2009, when Sharon L. Potter stepped down as U.S. Attorney. Under federal law, if the U.S. Attorney resigns, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney automatically becomes the Acting U.S. Attorney.

President Barack Obama hasn’t nominated a successor to Potter.

Bartle Bull turns around to identify the member of the New Black Panther Party who held a nightstick (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

All the elements of a trial were in place on Friday for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on the New Black Panther Party case.

There was the chief prosecutor, played by David Blackwood, who serves as counsel to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. There were witnesses — Republican poll watchers Mike Mauro, Chris Hill and Bartle Bull — there were experts, and there were the charges: that the New Black Panthers intimidated voters in Philadelphia on election day in 2008, and that the Obama Justice Department’s dismissal of a civil suit brought in the waning days of the Bush administration would encourage more voter intimidation cases.

And then there were the defendants: the New Black Panther Party, the Obama Justice Department and the media, which for the most part, ignored the incident and year-long controversy over the partial dismissal as it festered on conservative blogs, fed by a You Tube video showing two members of the racist fringe group standing outside a majority black polling station in Philadelphia in military-style garb.

A few journalists and members of the New Black Panther Party showed up. The Justice Department didn’t, deciding to offer up Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez at a separate hearing on May 14 away from the spectacle of Friday’s four hour hearing.

Hans von Spakovsky, seated left, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), seated in the foreground, and members of the New Black Panther Party at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on Friday (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice)

Six uniformed members of the New Black Panther Party and a few associates also attended the hearing equipped with newspapers that claimed the party was “under fire” from the commission, right wing conservatives and The Washington Times. During the hearing, the Panthers were seated in the second and third rows of the hearing room next to controversial former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky and later behind Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).

But this wasn’t a trial, insisted Commissioner Gail Heriot. “No one is on trial here – not the members of the New Black Panther Party, not the witnesses to the incident, not the DOJ lawyers who initially filed this lawsuit, and not the DOJ officials who ultimately decided to terminate the lawsuit except in a very minor, minor aspect,” she said.

The commission had a duty to investigate such matters, said Heriot, one of two commissioners who switched from Republican to independent during the Bush administration, allowing two additional Republicans to be appointed without violating the rule that no more than four members of a party may serve on the commission at the same time.

All that was missing for the trial was a defense team. Even those commissioners who disagreed with the commission’s focus on the matter wanted nothing to do with the New Black Panthers. “This is not a defense of the Black Panthers, this is not to belittle anything that the witnesses saw or heard, but it is about the greater issue of what this commission is really all about, a mission that we have been sorely lacking within the last five years,” said Commissioner Michael Yaki. “It is to me about one thing — partisan payback. There is nothing about this report that talks about how this goes to a broader question about voting rights enforcement.”

Members of the New Black Panther Party were subdued during the meeting, sitting quietly in their chairs and occasionally whispering to one another. At one point, when a Panther tried to hand out a statement from the party to members of the audience, a commission staffer asked him not to, and he obliged.

Minister King Samir Shabazz takes photos at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice)

At another point, Minister King Samir Shabazz stood up and took photos of the commissioners, those testifying and the audience.

During brief intermissions, the Panthers lobbied the commissioners, pointing out that they suspended Shabazz until January 2010 because of his actions. After three and a half hours, the group left, taking up positions on the corner of 9th and G Streets NW where they handed out newspapers to passersby.

Some Republican members of the commission argued that this incident had broader implications for the Voting Rights Act and drew analogies to the persecution of civil rights activists in the 1960s.

“One of the turning points was the national TV pictures of ‘Bull’ Connor turning dogs and hoses on the civil rights marchers,” Gaziano said. “After that national viewing, Americans who wanted to believe it wasn’t as bad couldn’t do so.”

“So the fact that the YouTube was viewed by hundreds of thousands and broadcast on national TV raised the awareness of this issue so that would you agree with me that the dismissal is a bigger problem than not filing where the evidence is ambiguous?” asked Gaziano.

Poll watchers Mike Mauro, Chris Hill and Bartle Bull at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on Friday (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

Some of the Republican members of the commission have sought to  prove politics were a factor in the handling of the case. They have pressed to hear testimony from Justice Department lawyers J. Christian Adams and Christopher Coates, but the Justice Department has resisted, citing a longstanding precedent that insulates career lawyers from having to testify before committees. Thernstorm said she had a problem with subpoenaing career lawyers.

Gregory G. Katsas, a partner at Jones Day and a former acting Associate Attorney General (photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice).

In an attempt to tie the decision to Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, Republicans brought in Gregory G. Katsas, who served in an acting role as Associate Attorney General during the Bush administration.

He testified that in his experience, the Associate Attorney General would have played a role in the decision. Katsas said the White House would have not been consulted about the decision, but would be notified so they could handle press queries after a decision was announced.

At least one Republican on the commission, Abigail Thernstrom, was critical of the focus on what even Republican poll watchers admitted was an isolated incident.

“As much as I abhor the New Black Panther Party, it is nothing in my view but a lunatic fringe group, a few of whose members showed up at one polling place in a largely black, safe Democratic polling place,” Thernstrom said. “There isn’t an analogy to racist whites stopping blacks from voting throughout the Jim Crow South.”

Nixon-era Idaho U.S. Attorney Sidney Smith died last Friday at the age of 95, the Associated Press reported. Smith was the state’s top federal prosecutor from 1971 to 1975.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Smith had his own private practice first in Idaho Falls and later in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In 1970, President Richard Nixon appointed Smith Deputy General Counsel for the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C. After serving in the position for one year, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for Idaho.

After leaving the public sector, Smith was a candidate for Idaho Lieutenant Governor in 1965.