Richard Callahan (Gov)

Richard Callahan on Friday was sworn in as the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, The St. Louis Business Journal reports. Callahan, who was nominated in September, was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 24.

He replaces Catherine Hanaway, who resigned in April 2009 to join the Ashcroft Group. Michael Reap had been the district’s acting U.S. Attorney.

Callahan has been a circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, Division II since 2003. Prior to becoming a judge he worked in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney of Cole County, Mo., serving  first as an assistant prosecutor and then as a prosecuting attorney.

Richard Callahan (Gov)

Richard G. Callahan (Georgetown University, Georgetown University Law School) is nominated to replace Catherine L. Hanaway, who resigned earlier this year as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.

His vitals:

• Born in St. Louis, Mo., 1947.
• Has been a circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, Division II since 2003.
• Worked in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney of Cole County, Mo. Was an assistant prosecutor from 1979 to 1986 and a prosecuting attorney from 1987 to 2002.
• Was an attorney in Robert L. Hawkins Law Offices in Jefferson City, Mo., from 1988 to 1991.
• Worked as a partner at Rost & Callahan Law Firm in Jefferson City, Mo. from 1979 to 1987.
• Was a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Missouri Attorney General’s office from 1985 to 1986.
• Served as general counsel for the Missouri General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules from 1983 to 1986.
• Worked as an assistant circuit attorney in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office from 1972 to 1978
• Was a tax law specialist at the Internal Revenue Service from 1969 to 1972
• Worked as an advertising examiner at the Federal Trade Commission from 1968 to 1969.
• Was in the Army Reserves from 1969 to 1975. Was honorably discharged in 1975. Had the rank of Specialist E-4.
• Tried more than 165 jury cases in criminal court. Was the sole or chief counsel on all but two or three of those cases.Tried 16 jury cases in civil court. Was the sole or chief counsel on all of the cases.

Click here for his full questionnaire.

UPDATE: According to his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, Callahan earns a salary of $127,582 as a judge. Of interesting note, last year he earned $7,600  from “40 Racing Pigeons.” He also does not report any liabilities. However on his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Callahan reports assets valued at $238,300 and liabilities of $120,500 for a net worth of $117,800.

President Obama nominated U.S. Attorneys for Missouri, Montana and Iowa today.

They are:

Richard Callahan (Gov)

-Richard G. Callahan (Eastern District of Missouri): The Cole County, Mo., Circuit Court judge would replace Michael Reap, who has been acting U.S. Attorney since Catherine Hanaway resigned in April to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm.

-Michael W. Cotter (Montana): The Helena, Mont. lawyer would succeed controversial Bush holdover Bill Mercer, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Mercer was criticized for being the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General in Washington, D.C., for almost two years, while simultaneously serving as Montana U.S. Attorney. He has also come under fire for his role in the politicized firings of U.S. Attorneys in 2006.

Nick Klinefeldt (Ahlers & Cooney)

-Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa): The Des Moines, Iowa lawyer would replace Matthew G. Whitaker, who has served as U.S. Attorney since 2004. We reported earlier this month that the lawyer has been able to rise above the past of his father, Michael Arthur Klinefeldt, who is serving a 10-year sentence on a methamphetamine conviction.

Stephanie Rose

-Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa): The Northern District of Iowa Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed Matt Dummermuth, a Bush U.S. Attorney who never won Senate confirmation. Immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates have questioned Rose’s role in a controversial round-up of 300 undocumented immigrants working at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa last year. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in May that Rose didn’t take part in the decision to prosecute the immigrant workers.

Read more about the nominees here.

Obama has now made a total of 27 U.S. Attorney nominations. The full Senate has considered 11 of those nominees and they were all confirmed by unanimous consent.

Claire McCaskill (U.S. Senate)

We bring news of another possible U.S. attorney recommendation, this one from Missouri’s Eastern District. According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan is widely believed to be Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) choice for the post, which is based in St. Louis.

The two are longtime friends and have worked together on criminal justice issues since both served as prosecutors in the 1990s. Neither would comment on Callahan’s rumored candidacy, but several lawyers told the newspaper the FBI has conducted a background investigation of Callahan, a strong sign Callahan’s name has been forwarded to the White House.

Callahan spent 16 years as Cole County attorney, in Jefferson City, Mo., his tenure marked by several high-profile public corruption cases. He prosecuted a Missouri secretary of state, a state senator and several other legislators from both parties.

Callahan took the bench in 2003 and has since authored dozens of important decisions. He declared Missouri’s child abuse registry unconstitutional, threw out the state’s voter ID law and validated its $2.7 billion school funding plan.

Michael Reap, who has been the Eastern District’s first assistant since 1992, is acting U.S. attorney. He replaced Catherine Hanaway, who resigned in April to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm.

The Washington-based law firm founded by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2007 has scooped up four Bush administration U.S. Attorneys to staff offices in Austin, Dallas, St. Louis,  and Boston. Johnny Sutton, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, will head the Austin firm, along with new firm partner, John Ratcliffe, who was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 2007 to 2008. The Texas firm will be called Ashcroft Sutton & Ratcliffe.

Ashcroft told the Austin Business Journal:

“This is a next-generation law firm … The law firm of the future has got to be nimble, agile and capable of focusing resources based on talent and expertise and be able to deploy them where they are needed.”

As we previously reported, the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Catherine Hanaway, resigned April 17 to join the new firm. Also joining the firm is the former U.S. Attorney in Boston, Michael Sullivan, who resigned earlier this month. The firm will be known as Ashcroft Sullivan LLC in Massachusetts.

Catherine Hanaway (courtesy USDOJ)

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway in the Eastern District of Missouri resigned Monday to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft in forming a nation-wide law firm. Ashcroft was a U.S. senator from Missouri before an election defeat in 2000 and his appointment as AG. Read the report of Hanaway’s move here.