U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee on Wednesday announced he will retire as the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Mississippi on Jan. 31, The Associated Press reports. The Bush holdover has been the district’s U.S. Attorney since 2001.

Over the weekend, we reported that Greenlee would be leaving his post soon, as Gina Phillips Kilgore, chief deputy for operations at the U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., sent out an e-mail titled “Jim Greenlee Retirement Reception.” A copy of the email was forwarded to The Daily Journal of Mississippi.

President Obama has yet to nominate a replacement for Greenlee. Oxford-based defense lawyer Christi McCoy has been under consideration for the job, but we reported last month that her candidacy stalled over questions about her affiliation with a private investigator under investigation for allegedly padding his bills.

Mississippi lawyers have told us Greenlee wrote a letter to the Justice Department about McCoy’s ties to the private investigator, but Greenlee’s office has declined to say whether such a letter exists. Main Justice submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in November asking for a copy of any letter, if it exists.

McCoy was recommended for the U.S. Attorney post by Mississippi Reps. Bennie Thompson and Travis Childers, both Democrats.

McCoy once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston — who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge. She also represented former state auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judicial bribery case.

Another possible candidate is Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Ivy.

U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee soon will be leaving his post as the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Mississippi, The Daily Journal of Mississippi reports. The Bush holdover has been the district’s U.S. Attorney since 2001.

Greenlee’s departure has been rumored for months, amid various reports that made his Oxford-based office seem something of a soap opera.

The latest: Mississippi journalist Patsy Brumfield reports that an FBI agent who was indicted last week for failing to disclose a personal financial interest in the FBI building in Oxford had sought whistle blower status a couple of years ago after reporting concerns that Greenlee’s office had improperly targeted area Muslims for investigation after the 9/11 attacks.

The so-called Convenience Store Initiative didn’t find any terrorist links, but prosecutors did end up charging some 60 people with selling excessive amounts of pseudoephedrine, used to make methamphetamine, an illegal drug.

The agent, Hal Neilson, also reportedly raised ethics concerns about a book that a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district, Tom Dawson, wrote about his prosecution of billionaire Mississippi trial lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs in a judicial bribery scandal, Brumfield wrote. Read our previous report on Dawson’s book here.

Greenlee and the office’s spokesman have declined to comment about his rumored departure.

On Friday, Gina Phillips Kilgore, chief deputy for operations at the U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., on Friday sent out an email titled “Jim Greenlee Retirement Reception.” A copy of the email was forwarded to The Daily Journal.

The email indicated the retirement party will take place on Jan. 29 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oxford-University United Methodist All-Purpose Center, The Daily Journal reported.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Martin reportedly will serve as the office’s interim U.S. Attorney, according to The Daily Journal.

President Obama has yet to nominate a replacement for Greenlee. Oxford-based defense lawyer Christi McCoy has been under consideration for the job. We reported last month that her candidacy stalled over questions about her affiliation with a private investigator under investigation for allegedly padding his bills.

Mississippi lawyers have told us Greenlee wrote a letter to the DOJ about McCoy’s ties to the private investigator, but Greenlee’s office has declined to say whether such a letter exists. Main Justice submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in November asking for a copy of any letter, if it exists.

McCoy was recommended for the U.S. Attorney post by Mississippi Reps. Bennie Thompson and Travis Childers, both Democrats.

McCoy once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston — who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge. She also represented former state auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judicial bribery case.

For more on McCoy’s candidacy, click here.

Joe Palazzolo contributed to this report.

For the first time in this administration, Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys nominated by President Barack Obama outnumber Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys nominated by former President George W. Bush.

As of the end of November, more than 10 months into Obama’s presidency, the score was 24 Obama U.S. Attorneys to 21 Bush U.S. Attorneys, according to a review of Justice Department and congressional records. And of the 48 acting and interim U.S. Attorneys, just seven were appointed during the Bush administration.

Stephanie Villafuerte (gov)

The figures represent a watershed for the Obama administration, which has made halting progress filling the nation’s 93 U.S. Attorneys positions amid political resistance and a crowded legislative agenda.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney nominee for Colorado, Stephanie Villafuerte, pulled her name from consideration, offering a public view of one of several nomination battles unfolding in districts across the country. Villafuerte, the first Obama U.S. Attorney nominee to withdraw, faced questions from Republicans over whether she accessed a restricted federal database for political purposes.

Meanwhile, in Mississippi’s Northern District, Oxford-based criminal defense lawyer Christi McCoy’s candidacy has foundered. People in Mississippi legal circles said Republicans raised questions about her affiliation with a private investigator under investigation for allegedly padding his bills and submitting false claims. (McCoy, like many other defense lawyers in Mississippi, used the P.I. in her practice.)

McCoy was recommended for the U.S. Attorney post by Mississippi Reps. Bennie Thompson and Travis Childers, both Democrats.

Leura Canary (gov)

And in Alabama, Montgomery criminal defense lawyer Joe Van Heest appears to be out of the running for Middle District U.S. Attorney after objections from Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), one person familiar with the situation said. Van Heest, who was recommended by Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), had been fully vetted by the White House months ago. But the administration never went forward with a nomination.

As a result, a controversial Bush-holder U.S. Attorney, Leura Canary, remains in charge of the Montgomery-based office. Democrats have criticized Canary for prosecuting former Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on public corruption charges. The Justice Department opposes Siegelman’s Supreme Court appeal of his 2006 conviction.

The White House has shown little appetite for these and other feuds, preferring to reservoir political capital for legislative goals such as health-care reform.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said the Obama administration is treading cautiously in nominating U.S. Attorneys, in part because of lingering sensitivities to politicization in the Justice Department. In an October interview with National Public Radio, Holder said he hoped the offices would be filled by the first part of 2010, but that appears unlikely, with fewer than one-third of the U.S. Attorneys confirmed heading into the New Year.

Eric Holder (Photo by Ryan J. Reilly / Main Justice)

One administration official said Holder is frustrated with the pace of the nominations, which thus far has been set by the White House. And several Justice officials are now privately questioning the wisdom of leaving Bush-appointed U.S. Attorneys in place until their successors are confirmed, a tack Obama took to preserve continuity and avoid political pitfalls after the scandal over prosecutor firings.

More than twice as many Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys were in place by this time in the first year of the previous two administrations. In the Bush administration, the Senate had confirmed 58 U.S. Attorneys by the end of November 2001, congressional records show. President Bill Clinton, by comparison, had moved 57 U.S. Attorneys through the confirmation process by the end of November 1993.

Nominations, too, have been slow in coming, reinforcing the notion that the top rather than the bottom of the process is knotted. Obama has sent 34 U.S. Attorney nominations to the Senate to date. Bush had nominated more than 60 U.S. Attorneys and Clinton more than 70 U.S. Attorneys by this time in their first terms.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the figures, referring a reporter to Holder’s previous statements on U.S. Attorney nominations.

To read our previous most recent accounting of U.S. Attorney nominees, click here. And to view our interactive U.S. Attorney chart, click here.

Below are lists of Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys.

Nominated by Obama:

• Timothy Heaphy (Western District of Virginia)
• Karen Loeffler (District of Alaska)
• Brendan Johnson (District of South Dakota)
• Paul Fishman (District of New Jersey)
• Kenyen Brown (Southern District of Alabama)
• Stephanie Rose (Northern District of Iowa)
• Nick Klinefeldt (Southern District of Iowa)
• Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California)
• Ed Tarver (Southern District of Georgia)
• Carmen Ortiz (District of Massachusetts)
• Joyce Vance (Northern District of Alabama)
• B. Todd Jones (District of Minnesota)
• John Kacavas (District of New Hampshire)
• Preet Bharara (Southern District of New York)
• Tristram Coffin (District of Vermont)
• Dennis Burke (District of Arizona)
• Daniel Bogden (District of Nevada)
• Steve Dettelbach (Northern District of Ohio)
• Carter Stewart (Southern District of Ohio)
• Peter Neronha (District of Rhode Island)
• Neil MacBride (Eastern District of Virginia)
• Florence Nakakuni (District of Hawaii)
• Deborah Gilg (District of Nebraska)
• Jenny Durkan (Western District of Washington)

Nominated by Bush:

• Leura Canary (Middle District of Alabama)
• Joseph Russoniello (Northern District of California)
• A. Brian Albritton (Middle District of Florida)
• Leonardo Rapadas (Guam & Northern Mariana Islands)
• Thomas Moss (District of Idaho)
• Patrick Fitzgerald (Northern District of Illinois)
• Jim Letten (Eastern District of Louisiana)
• David Dugas (Middle District of Louisiana)
• Donald Washington (Western District of Louisiana)
• Rod Rosenstein (District of Maryland)
• Jim Greenlee (Northern District of Mississippi)
• William Mercer (District of Montana)
• George E.B. Holding (Eastern District of North Carolina)
• Anna Mills S. Wagner (Middle District of North Carolina)
• Sheldon Sperling (District of Oklahoma)
• William Walter Wilkins III (District of South Carolina)
• James Dedrick (Eastern District of Tennessee)
• Edward Meachan Yardbrough (Middle District of Tennessee)
• Brett Tolman (District of Utah)
• James McDevit (Eastern District of Washington)
• Kelly Rankin (District of Wyoming)

And here’s a list of Obama nominees who have not been confirmed:

• Christopher Crofts (District of Wyoming)
• Thomas Walker (Eastern District of North Carolina)
• James Santelle (Eastern District of Wisconsin)
• Barbara McQuade (Eastern District of Michigan)
• Mary Elizabeth Phillips (Western District of Missouri)
• Sanford Coats (Western District of Oklahoma)
• Michael Cotter (District of Montana)
• Richard Callahan (Eastern District of Missouri)
• Michael Moore (Middle District of Georgia)

We start this post with a caveat: We really don’t know what’s going on with the Northern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney selection. But we do have some new information to share about criminal defense lawyer Christi McCoy, who was recommended for the post by Mississippi House Democrats.

We reported earlier this month that the nomination of McCoy, of Oxford, Miss., was on the rocks — after previously reporting it was on track. We heard unconfirmed talk of a tax problem, and chatter that her professional connections to two figures in the famous Dickie Scruggs case were giving the Obama administration pause.

Scruggs is the prominent trial lawyer and Democratic donor who made a fortune suing the tobacco industry. McCoy used to work for Joey Langston, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge.  McCoy also represented former State Auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judge bribery case. Is all that really a problem for McCoy?

As Mississippi legal reporter Patsy Brumfield noted recently, “Frankly, what aspiring young attorney in Prentiss County didn’t want to work for Langston back in the mid 1990s?”

And what criminal defense lawyer hasn’t represented an unsavory client? No good one, certainly.

But even Brumfield, who originally refuted reports that McCoy’s candidacy had run off the rails, has concluded that “something” is amiss. But what?

Well, let’s start with the rumored “tax” problem. A person familiar with the Mississippi nomination process told us McCoy hasn’t even submitted her tax information to the White House or the Justice Department yet. And an administration official said the vetting process for McCoy hasn’t begun. So that casts doubts on that.

And while we’re on the topic of background checks, another thing worth considering: McCoy’s husband, Dwanye Smith, is the acting agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Oxford office. The DEA regularly conducts background checks on its agents to maintain their security clearances. If the couple had tax issues, or any other skeletons for that matter, they probably would have revealed themselves by now.

Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.)

Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Ivy is lobbying for the position, though McCoy has the support of Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Travis Childers (D-Miss.). Ivy was in Washington recently for the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Asset Forfeiture Program (OCDETF) national leadership conference. Ivy, who had been an early favorite for the post, paid a visit to the Congress members’ offices.

Thompson told us that the meeting had “nothing to do with the U.S. attorney” position. He declined to comment on what the two discussed. We’re also told Ivy met with Childers’ staff, though we could not confirm whether he pitched himself as an alternative to McCoy.

Pasty Brumfield in Mississippi also reported this interesting fact: Ivy had recently been added to the prosecution team for Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter, who was accused of giving Scruggs an unfair advantage in court. DeLaughter pleaded guilty on July 31 to one federal obstruction of justice count. Prosecutors recommended an 18-month sentence. Ivy worked alongside prosecutors Robert Norman and Chad Lamar, veterans of the Scruggs case.

So what’s with the delay on McCoy? Maybe nothing. The person familiar with the Mississippi nominations said the Obama administration was in contact with Childers about McCoy as recently as last week. That’s a heckuva lot better than in some other districts, which shall remain unnamed, where candidates have been in the dark since January because their elected officials aren’t bird-dogging the White House.

Mary Jacoby contributed to this report.

Joe Palazzolo can be contacted at jpalazzolo@mainjustice.com and Mary Jacoby at mjacoby@mainjustice.com

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the Mississippi Northern District U.S. Attorney job was not part of the discussion he had today with Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Ivy, who has been mentioned as a candidate for the position. Ivy met with Thompson on Thursday, while the prosecutor was in Washington for the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Asset Forfeiture Program (OCDETF) national leadership conference.

Bennie Thompson (Gov)

The congressman said in a interview with Main Justice that the meeting was “private” and had “nothing to do with the U.S. Attorney” position. He declined to comment on what the two discussed.

We reported last week that Oxford criminal defense lawyer Christi McCoy, the Thompson-backed candidate for Mississippi Northern District U.S. Attorney, appeared to have run into trouble during the vetting process.

McCoy’s professional relationships with two figures in the Dickie Scruggs case is thought by Mississippi legal figures to be behind the White House’s apparent skittishness. Scruggs, the brother-in-law of former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), is a trial lawyer who became enormously wealthy suing the tobacco companies in the 1990s. He pleaded guilty in connection with two sets of charges alleging he attempted to bribe judges in Mississippi.  McCoy once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge. McCoy also represented former State Auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judge bribery case.

Thompson said in the interview today that he continued to support McCoy. Thompson is playing a leading role in Mississippi U.S. Attorney recommendations because the state’s two senators, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, are Republicans.

We now have two independent sources telling us that Oxford, Miss., criminal defense lawyer Christi McCoy’s candidacy for Northern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney appears to have run off the rails. We’re now hearing that Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Ivy in Oxford is the leading candidate. We’d earlier reported that Circuit Court Judge Thomas Gardner of Tupelo was in the mix.

Admittedly, we don’t have great insight into this one. McCoy and Ivy didn’t return phone calls, and a spokesman for Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who reportedly recommended McCoy to replace Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee, won’t comment. “We have not made any of our recommendations public in order not to prejudice the White House vetting process,” Thompson’s deputy chief of staff, Karis Gutter, told me Tuesday.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

After we posted this item back in May saying McCoy had hit a “snag” in the vetting process, Mississippi legal reporter Patsy Brumfield reported June 16 that Thompson had formally recommended McCoy to the White House.

Later, we learned that snag was related to McCoy’s professional connections to two figures in the famous Dickie Scruggs case. Scruggs is the mega-rich trial lawyer and brother-in-law of former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) who pleaded guilty in connection with two sets of charges alleging he attempted to bribe judges in Mississippi. 

McCoy once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge. McCoy also represented former State Auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judge bribery case. I’m not sure why that would necessarily disqualify her – but the White House is very skittish about controversy of any kind in the U.S. Attorney selections. We also heard about something else on McCoy’s application that wasn’t quite in order, but couldn’t confirm the information.

Langston pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring to bribe Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter to rule favorably on a Scruggs case. Langston allegedly dangled the prospect of a federal judgeship for DeLaughter – with help from Lott, who as senator was in a position to help push candidates through. Lott later acknowledged he’d called DeLaughter about the judgeship but said he didn’t actually recommend DeLaughter, who wasn’t nominate

The Obama administration is proceeding with an abundance of caution in the U.S. Attorney selection process. For that reason, Oxford, Miss., criminal defense attorney Christi McCoy hit a bit of a hiccup in the vetting process earlier this year for the Northern District of Mississippi, we’re told. McCoy had professional connections to two figures in the famous Dickie Scruggs case. Scruggs is the mega-rich trial lawyer and brother in law of former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) who pleaded guilty in connection with two sets of charges alleging he attempted to bribe judges in Mississippi. Apparently, even the whiff of controversy — no matter how tangential – is enough to give the vetters pause.

But now McCoy’s nomination appears solidly on track. Mississippi legal reporter Patsy Brumfield reported June 16 that Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) had formally recommended McCoy to the White House. Thompson told Main Justice in May that he’d made his recommendations, but wouldn’t confirm any names. (Mississippi Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker are Republicans, so Mississippi’s congressional Democrats led by Thompson get to make the recommendation.)

Since then, we’ve talked with  two people knowledgeable about the process who say McCoy is indeed the prime candidate to replace Bush-appointee Jim Greenlee.

We’d reported earlier about rumors that McCoy had hit an unknown “snag” in the process. Now we hear that snag  apparently was her former employment with the law firm of Joey Langston — who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs to bribe a judge — and her representation of former State Auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judge bribery case.

Langston pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiring to bribe Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter to rule favorably on a Scruggs case. Langston allegedly dangled the prospect of a federal judgeship for DeLaughter – with help from Scruggs’s brother-in-law, Lott, who as senator was in a position to help push candidates through. Lott later acknowledged he’d called DeLaughter about the judgeship but said he didn’t actually recommend DeLaughter, who wasn’t nominated.

McCoy is a 1994 graduate of Ole Miss law school. Thompson