President Barack Obama said Wednesday he will install James Cole as Deputy Attorney General through a recess appointment.

The appointment will allow Cole to serve a year in the department’s No. 2 job. A friend of Attorney General Eric Holder, Cole  was nominated in May and was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July along a party-line vote.

A parter at Bryan Cave LLP, Cole spent 13 years at the Department of Justice, including three years as deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section in the Criminal Division. Senate Republicans objected to a

For background on why his nomination became controversial, read our previous report here.

Here is a statement from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.):

“Despite repeated requests, for more than five months, Senate Republicans refused to debate the nomination of Jim Cole to be the Deputy Attorney General. I have no question that Jim Cole is highly qualified to fill this vital law enforcement post. His nomination received bipartisan support from public officials and from high-ranking veterans of the Justice Department, and I believe that he would have been confirmed by the Senate had his nomination been given an up-or-down vote. The delays in considering his nomination were unnecessary and wrong. I am glad that he will now finally begin this important work to protect the American people.�

The Main Justice staff will be taking a break for the holidays. We’ll publish next on Jan. 3. Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Dan Hotsenpiller, a former Assistant U. S. States Attorney, will become acting district attorney in southwestern Colorado because the incumbent DA, Myrl Serra, had to step aside after sexual-misconduct charges were lodged against him.

Hotsenpiller, appointed the chief prosecutor for the state’s 7th Judicial District last week by District Judge J. Steven Patrick, will be sworn in on Jan. 10.

Serra was arrested in September and indicted on felony and misdemeanor charges accusing him of demanding sexual favors from women working in his office. He has denied the charges.

Hotsenpiller, who has been a defense attorney, once worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Grand Junction. In his new post, he will oversee prosecutions in Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Montrose, Ouray and San Miguel counties.

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing cash during an Oct. 18 drug raid in suburban Cleveland, Scripps Media reported.

Steven Campbell was part of a task force that raided a home in Lyndhurt. The drug suspect told agents he had a couple pounds of marijuana in a blue bag in the garage and between $45,000 and $50,000 under a dresser, Tickle the Wire reported. Campbell, along with at least one DEA agent, found the cash. Campbell began stuffing fistfuls of cash into his pockets, an act that an agent witnessed and told another agent about.

When confronted, Campbell said the only money he had was his personal money. After resisting a search, Campbell was handcuffed. Before ATF agent Ed Dabkowski could search Campbell, the cash fell out of Campbell’s pockets. It was estimated that he took more than $46,000.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys office for the Eastern District of Michigan because the the Northern District of Ohio is recused from the case.

Detriot U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said, “Just as we hold public officials accountable for wrongdoing, we hold federal agents accountable as well.”

Attorney General Eric Holder named Robin C. Ashton on Thursday to serve as head of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

OPR’s mission is to investigate attorneys employed by the Justice Department who have been accused of misconduct or crimes in their professional functions.

Ashton has worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia since 1991. She currently serves as the Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney for Management. From 2001 to 2005, she served as Deputy Director in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). She began her DOJ career  in the litigation section of the Antitrust Division.

This year, Ashton received the United States Attorney’s Award for Meritorious Service 2010 Award Recipients. In 2004, she was given the EOUSA’s Director’s Award for Executive Achievement.

“As a veteran career prosecutor, Robin is uniquely qualified to serve as Counsel for Professional Responsibility, and I am confident she will lead the office with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and dedication,” Holder said in a prepared statement.

Associate Deputy Attorney General Juan Osuna speaks at a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the state of immigration courts. (photo by Channing Turner / Main Justice)

Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday named Juan Osuna as Acting Director for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

EOIR is responsible for adjudicating immigration cases and overseeing immigration courts in the United States through the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge.

Osuna currently serves as an Associate Deputy Attorney General for immigration policy.

In 2000, then-Attorney General Janet Reno tapped Osuna for the Board of Immigration Appeals. He was named board chairman by then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey in September 2008.

In a statement, Holder said, “Juan has been with the department for more than a decade and has developed an extensive knowledge of immigration litigation, and earned a reputation as a diligent and thoughtful advocate and manager.� Holder added, “I am confident he will lead the office with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and dedication.�

Nevada Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval (R) on Wednesday named former Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucas Foletta to be his general counsel, the Associated Press reported.

Foletta worked as a prosecutor in the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s office focusing on mortgage fraud and identity theft cases. He previously clerked for Sandoval when the incoming governor was a federal judge.

As part of its marathon of last minute confirmations, the Senate on Wednesday approved three former federal prosecutors to seats on federal courts. However, the Senate returned to President Barack Obama the names of 13 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department attorneys who were nominated to judgeships.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in a prepared statement said, “As the 111th Congress draws to a close, Senate Republicans have finally consented to consider half of the judicial nominations that have been pending on the Senate’s Executive Calendar, some for nearly a year, awaiting a final Senate vote.�

Leahy continued, “These are all superbly qualified nominees, most were reported with bipartisan support and many unanimously.  Thirteen of these nominations on which we are not being allowed to vote are to fill judicial emergency vacancies, as determined by the nonpartisan Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.  Yet, for month after month, many of these nominations have been stalled, just languishing before the Senate as Senate Republicans refused to consent to moving forward.â€� He added, “It is a travesty that all of the well-qualified nominees favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee could not be confirmed before this Congress adjourns.”

The confirmed nominees are:

• Scott M. Matheson was nominated on March 3 to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. Matheson, who served as U.S. Attorney from 1993 to 1997, is currently a professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, where he was once the dean. He was also a candidate in the state’s 2004 gubernatorial election. Read more about him here. The former U.S. Attorney is the brother of Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), who opposes Obama’s health care legislation. The Weekly Standard pondered whether Matheson’s nomination was made to “buy off his brother’s vote.” Rep. Matheson’s spokeswoman, Alyson Heyrend, told Politico that the possibility was “patently ridiculous.” A White House official also told the newspaper the Weekly Standard’s hypothesis was “absurd.”
• Mary H. Murguia was nominated on March 25 to the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Murguia, who led the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys from 1999 to 2000 and served in other capacities at the DOJ prior to that beginning in 1990, has served as a U.S. District Court judge in Arizona since 2000.
• Beryl A. Howell was nominated on July 14 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Howell was Executive Managing Director and General Counsel of Stroz Friedberg LLC from 2003 to 2009. She previously served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary as a senior advisor to Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). From 1987 to 1993, Howell was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where she rose to the position of Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Section.

The returned nominees are:

• Edward C. DuMont was nominated on April 14 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. DuMont, currently a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, spent time at the Department of Justice including seven years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. He also served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General focusing on computer crime, e-commerce and privacy. DuMont has argued 18 cases before the Supreme Court.
• Victoria F. Nourse was nominated on July 14 to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Nourse is a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Law. She served as an assistant counsel to the Senate Committee to Investigate the Iran-Contra Affair in 1987, before joining the Justice Department on the Civil Appellate Staff. In 1990, she became Special Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, assisting then Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.) in crafting provisions of the Violence Against Women Act.
• Arenda L. Wright Allen was nominated on Dec. 1 to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Wright Allen worked as a federal prosecutor in the Western District of Virginia from 1990 to 1991 and in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1991 to 2005. Since then she has been a supervisory assistant federal public defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
• Sara L. Darrow was nominated on Nov. 17 to be a U.S. District judge in the Central District of Illinois. Darrow is currently an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District, where she is chief of the violent crimes section. She joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2003 after four years with the Henry County State’s Attorney’s Office in Cambridge, Ill.
• Vincent L. Briccetti was nominated on Nov. 17 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A partner in the law firm of Briccetti, Calhoun & Lawrence, LLP, in White Plains, N.Y., Briccetti previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District from 1985 to 1989.
• Marina G. Marmolejo was nominated on July 28 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Marmolejo served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Texas from 1999 to 2007 before entering the private sector. She is currently a partner at the law firm of Reid Davis LLP in Austin. Read more about her here.

• Kathleen M. Williams was nominated on July 21 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Williams, who now is the Federal Public Defender for the district, was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district from 1984 to 1988.
• Michael H. Simon was nominated on July 14 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Simon, a partner at Perkins Coie LLP in the firm’s Portland office, previously served as a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
• Diana Saldana was nominated on July 14 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Before she became a magistrate judge, Saldaña was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district from 2001 to 2006. Before that, she served as a trial attorney at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from 1998 to 1999.
• Amy B. Jackson was nominated June 17 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Jackson is a member at the firm Trout Cacheris, PLLC, where she specializes in complex criminal and civil trials and appeals. Before joining the firm in 2000, she worked for Venable, Baetjer, Howard, and Civiletti (now Venable LLP). From 1980 to 1986, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office. During her time with the office, she was awarded the Department of Justice Special Achievement Awards for her work on murder and sexual assault cases in 1985 and 1986.
• James E. Boasberg was nominated June 17 to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Boasberg has served on the D.C. Superior Court since 2002. Boasberg previously spent six years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. From 1991 to 1996, Boasberg worked in private practice with the San Francisco firm Keker & Van Nest LLP and later in D.C. with Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd & Evans (now Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, PLLC).
• Max O. Cogburn, Jr. was nominated May 27 to a seat on the U.S. District Court in the Western District of North Carolina. Cogburn, who worked in the district from 1980 to 1992, served as Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney and on the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. He also served as a U.S. magistrate judge from 1995 to 2004. Cogburn is currently a partner at the law firm of Cogburn & Brazil PA in Asheville, N.C.
• Paul K. Holmes, III was nominated April 28 to be a U.S. district judge for the Western District of Arkansas. Holmes is of counsel at Warner, Smith & Harris PLC in Fort Smith. From 1993 to 2001, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and served for two years on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office, Holmes also worked at Warner, Smith & Harris.

New York Attorney General-elect Eric Schneiderman (D) on Wednesday named three Justice Department veterans to his office, the New York Law Journal reported.

Barbara D. Underwood, who served as acting U.S. Solicitor General from January to June 2001 and principal deputy U.S. Solicitor General from March 1998 to January 2001, will retain her position as state solicitor general. She has argued 19 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Underwood also has served as chief assistant to the Eastern District U.S. Attorney.

Nancy Hoppock will serve as executive deputy attorney general for criminal justice. She currently works in the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of the criminal division.

In addition, Schneiderman named three honorary co-chairs to his transition team, including  Zachary W. Carter, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, who served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from from 1993 to 1999.

The Senate on Wednesday night confirmed Michele Leonhart by unanimous consent to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration after a Democratic senator announced that he had dropped his hold on the nominee.

Michele Leonhart (photo by Daniel Hoffman / Main Justice)

Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin had threatened to hold up Leonhart, the acting head of the agency since November 2007, over his concerns about the DEA’s progress on addressing agency policies that he said hindered the dispensation of prescription drugs to nursing home residents. Kohl, a senior Senate Judiciary Committee member and the chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said he received assurances from Attorney General Eric Holder that the administration of President Barack Obama would work with him on legislation that would alleviate his worries, The Hill reported.

Leonhart will be the first Senate-confirmed DEA head since Karen Tandy resigned in 2007. Obama nominated her on Feb. 2, but the Senate Judiciary Committee did not report her out until Dec. 1.

Kohl’s concerns about the quick dispensation of prescription drugs to individuals in long-term care facilities predates Leonhart’s nomination.

Kohl and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote in an October 2009 letter to Holder that stepped-up efforts by the DEA to combat illegal prescription drug use have made it hard for ailing nursing home residents to get quick pain relief.

The Wisconsin senator met with Leonhart in May about his concerns on the dispensation of prescription medicine. In August, the senator asked the DEA for feedback on draft legislation that would allow nurses at nursing homes to prescribe drugs such as morphine.

Kohl pushed Leonhart to get back to him on the legislation during her nomination hearing in November. But she would not tell the senator at her hearing when he would get a response from her agency.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, “With more than 30 years of exemplary service at the Department of Justice, I look forward to continuing to work with Michele Leonhart in her new role at the DEA.”