Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) will no longer hold up federal nominations in his state after receiving assurance that the job of the George W. Bush-holdover U.S. Attorney in New Orleans is safe, The Times-Picayune reported today.

David Vitter (Gov)

The Republican senator now will return his “blue slip” on Western District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney nominee Stephanie Finley and other federal nominees, which he had been withholding until he received official word on the status of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

The Senate Judiciary Committee traditionally does not consider a nomination until it receives a “blue slip” from the nominee’s home state senator.

Vitter had asked the administration to keep Letten, who has led the Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney’s Office since 2001. Today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Letten would serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, which serves as the voice of U.S. Attorneys throughout the nation, sending a strong signal that his job was safe.

“This prestigious appointment makes it crystal clear that Jim isn’t going anywhere except on regular trips to Washington to personally advise the attorney general,” Vitter told the newspaper. “The attorney general and I superficially discussed this in our meeting last Thursday and I’m really excited to get it done.”

Letten’s office is handling the case against four men who allegedly tried to interfere with phones at Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office. One of the men, Robert Flanagan, is the son of Western District of Louisiana acting U.S. Attorney William Flanagan. James O’Keefe, who gained notoriety for secret videos of the community organizing group ACORN, was one of Flanagan’s accomplices.

Andrew Breitbart, the founder of BigGovernment.com, which employs O’Keefe, said today on Fox News that Letten leaked information on the incident in a “concerted effort” to put O’Keefe in a bad light. Letten’s office denied the allegation.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) appears close to lifting his holds on federal nominees for Louisiana posts, after he learned that the Justice Department will soon clear up his concerns about the future of New Orleans U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, The Times-Picayune reported yesterday.

David Vitter (Gov)

The Republican senator and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) have urged President Barack Obama to retain Letten, who has served as Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney since 2001. Landrieu said she received assurances from the White House that Letten’s job was safe. But Vitter didn’t and he is holding up DOJ and judicial nominees in Louisiana until he receives official word from the Obama administration that it isn’t seeking a replacement for the Bush holdover.

Jim Letten (DOJ)

Vitter told the New Orleans newspaper he had a half-hour meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday about Letten that “went very well.” He said once he receives official word on Letten’s status he will return the “blue slips,” which home state senators must sign in order for the Senate Judiciary Committee to consider nominees.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley, who was tapped last week for the Western District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney post, is among the Louisiana nominees for judiciary and Justice Department posts. She would replace acting U.S. Attorney William Flanagan, whose son, Robert, allegedly tried to interfere with phones at Landrieu’s New Orleans office. Letten’s office is handling the prosecution of Robert Flanagan and three others.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) will delay Senate action on the nominee who would replace the acting U.S. Attorney whose son allegedly tried to interfere with phones at Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office, The Associated Press reported today.

David Vitter (Getty Images)

Vitter’s office said Wednesday that he will block Senate action on Stephanie Finley and President Obama’s other nominees for federal justice system posts in Louisiana until he hears from the White House whether Obama will let Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Jim Letten keep his job.

Finley was nominated last week to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. She would replace acting U.S. Attorney William Flanagan. Vitter is also holding up other federal nominees in Louisiana over Letten. Letten was appointed by President George W. Bush, and has held the Eastern District post since April 2001. Both Vitter and Landrieu have urged Obama to retain Letten.

Flanagan, a career prosecutor, became the top federal prosecutor in the Shreveport, La., office after Donald Washington resigned earlier this month. Robert Flanagan, the prosecutor’s son, along with conservative activists James O’Keefe, Joseph Basel and Stan Dai were charged this week with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony. O’Keefe made national headlines last year when he posed as a pimp and allegedly received instructions on how to obtain housing aid for a purported brothel from staffers for activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).

The son of the acting U.S. Attorney and Basel told a staffer at Landrieu’s office that they were with the telephone company to repair the phone system, according to an FBI affidavit. O’Keefe was already inside the office’s reception area and was holding a phone to record Flanagan and Basel talking to Landrieu staffers, the FBI said. Dai helped plan the operation, according to the FBI.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) will hold up two nominees for the federal bench and U.S. Marshals in Louisiana until the Obama administration assures him the New Orleans U.S. Attorney will remain in place, The Times-Picayune reported yesterday.

David Vitter (Gov)

Although Vitter and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) both support retaining Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, the White House has declined to state categorically that it won’t seek to replace the Bush-era holdover.

Attorney General John Ashcroft appointed the career prosecutor as the U. S. Attorney in April 2001. President George W. Bush later formally nominated Letten for the job, and the Senate confirmed him in July 2005. Because Letten has already been Senate-confirmed,  he can continue in his job at the pleasure of President Barack Obama.

Landrieu told The Times-Picayune the White House has assured her that Letten will not lose his federal appointment.

But Vitter has not received those assurances, according to the newspaper. The Republican will only return his “blue slips” on Middle District of Louisiana judicial nominee Brian Jackson in Baton Rouge and Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Marshal nominee Genevieve Lynn Mayand in New Orleans if the White House tells him Letten will not be replaced by an Obama nominee. By tradition, home state senators return “blue slips” on judicial and law enforcement nominees from their states to the Judiciary Committee before the panel considers the nominations.

“As Sen. Vitter expressed in his letter to Sen. Landrieu and the Obama administration last March, he is offering his good will and cooperation for the president’s nominees as long as Jim Letten retains this appointment and continues his vitally important work,” Vitter spokesperson Joel DiGrado told The Times-Picayune. “Since Sen. Landrieu has strongly recommended this also, it should not be a difficult issue.”

Landrieu criticized Vitter’s decision to hold up the two nominees.

“Sen. Vitter’s partisan antics will do nothing but hurt the people of Louisiana who need these positions filled,” the Democratic senator told the newspaper.

It’s been a tough day for the Obama administration on the emotional issue of closing Guantanamo Bay.

The Senate voted to strip funds for President Obama’s promise to close the Cuba-based detention facility. FBI Director Robert Mueller equivocated about the wisdom of putting Gitmo detainees in U.S. prisons before a House Judiciary hearing. And Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his serene confidence in a news conference today that the “necessary funds will come our way” to keep Obama’s promise to shutter the facility by Jan. 22, 2010.

Amid the uncertainty about closing the facility, we decided to tally the number of lawmakers who’ve gone so far as to introduce Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) legislation to bar the resettlement of detainees in their states or districts.

The result? Twenty-three lawmakers — all Republicans — have filed such legislation. Most of the bills would bar detainee resettlement or public assistance. None has attracted more than 18 co-sponsors.  Take a look:

Lynn Jenkins

• Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), 18 co-sponsors
• Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-S.C.), 2 co-sponsors
• Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), 3 co-sponsors
• Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.), 4 co-sponsors
• Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), 0 co-sponsors
• Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), 6 co-sponsors
• Rep. Sue Wilkins Myrick (R-N.C.) 0 co-sponsors
• Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), 0 co-sponsors
• Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), 25 co-sponsors *
• Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), 8 co-sponsors *
• Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), 11 co-sponsors *
• Rep. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.), 9 co-sponsors
• Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), 7 co-sponsors
• Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-Ariz.), 29 c0-sponsors *
  

  Saxby Chambliss

• Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), 2 c0-sponsors
• Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), 138 co-sponsors *
• Rep. Steve Austria (R-Ohio), 4 co-sponsors
• Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), 9 co-sponsors
• Rep. Mark E. Souder (R-Ind.), 8 co-sponsors *
• Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), 0 co-sponsors *
• Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), 2 co-sponsors *
• Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Ohio), 6 co-sponsors *
• Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), 5 co-sponsors *

* denotes a bill that applies to the entire United States, as opposed to a state or district

Rep. Randy Forbes

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) was so concerned that he proposed two bills to stop detainees from entering Virginia.  It’s worth noting that his fellow Rep. James Moran (D-Va.) is the only member of Congress on record to say that he would accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay in the district that he represents.   On the other hand, Moran’s position has caused trouble for his brother Brian Moran, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia.  But in Oklahoma, House members have been united, all signing onto H.R.701 to prohibit transfer of detainees to Oklahoma, this includes Democrat Rep. Dan Boren.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had an interesting proposal, rather than going all out and prohibiting detainees from entering the United States, he wanted to put the decision in the hands of each state’s governor and legislature:

21. H.R.2294 : To require the approval of the relevant State governor and legislature and the President’s notification and certification before the transfer or release of an individual currently detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a location in the United States, and for other purposes.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) took another interesting approach, making the entry of a Guantanamo Bay detainee into the United States contingent on President Obama’s determination that such entry “is consistent with the national security of the United States.”  Vitter named his bill the “Protection from Enemy Combatants Act.”  Elegant.

David Vitter

One concern among Republicans is regarding Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s remark that detainees from Guantanamo may need some assistance to start their new lives in the United States. Like what? Welfare, food stamps, Medicaid? Enter Rep. Todd Tiahrt’s (R-Kan.) proposal:

23. H.R.2338 : To prohibit any alien formerly detained at the Department of Defense detention facility at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and brought into the United States from receiving any Federal, State, or local public benefit.

Rep. Howard Cole (R-N.C.) expressed his concern about the issue when Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday, to which Holder responded that “no final decision has been made as to what will happen to the detainees.”

And finally for the “most random bill”…  Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) proposed a bill:

13. H.R.1042 : To prohibit the provision of medical treatment to enemy combatants detained by the United States at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the same facility as a member of the Armed Forces or Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility.

For Stephen Colbert’s take on NIMBYism, and to see some of the more entertaining remarks made by members of Congress on this issue, watch the clip below:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said today that she wants Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, to stay on the job.

Jim Letten (USDOJ)

Letten became the interim U.S. attorney for the district in 2001 and was later appointed by President Bush in 2005. “The New Orleans region is a safer place thanks to the grit and determination of our U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, and he deserves reappointment,” Landrieu said in a statement.

The Times-Picayune says Letten was supported by  Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), but was not backed by some Democrats.

The paper reports:

…Today’s announcement is sure to disappoint some Democrats and African-American leaders who have been urging her to choose a qualified Democrat who would also be committed to prosecuting public corruption. New Orleans attorney Brian Jackson, a longtime federal prosecutor, was among those rumored to be a top candidate.

Landrieu is still reviewing candidates for the Middle and Western Districts, said her spokesperson, Aaron Saunders. She is the second Democratic senator to support keeping a Bush-appointed U.S. Attorney in place; the other is Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who wants Patrick Fitzgerald to be reappointed. Fitzgerald is prosecuting former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) for corruption.