The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington on Friday told Main Justice he plans to “goof off” for awhile after he steps down in the coming weeks.

James McDevitt, who has led the Spokane-based U.S. Attorney’s office since 2001, said he will fly his airplane and fly fish for at least a few months once Michael C. Ormsby takes office. The Senate confirmed Ormsby as McDevitt’s replacement on Wednesday.

“I’m not going to go back into private practice,” said McDevitt, who spent several years at the law firm of Preston Gates Ellis LLP (now K&L Gates LLP) in Spokane.

He said he’ll probably teach at a university or consult part-time at some point in the future.

McDevitt said he isn’t sure when Ormsby will be sworn in, and he is in no rush to leave. McDevitt is one of eight U.S. Attorneys who were appointed by President George W. Bush and are still on the job.

“I don’t have a bus to catch,” McDevitt said.

The Senate confirmed six U.S. Attorneys by voice vote late Wednesday night.

They are:

-- Joseph Hogsett (Southern District of Indiana): President Barack Obama nominated the partner at the law firm of Bingham McHale LLP in Indianapolis and former chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party on July 14 to succeed Susan W. Brooks, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney in 2007. Read more about him here.

– Michael J. Moore (Middle District of Georgia): Obama tapped the lawyer in Warner Robins, Ga., on Sept. 17, 2009, to succeed Frank Maxwell Wood, who resigned as U.S. Attorney in July 2009. Read more about him here and here.

– Robert E. O’Neill (Middle District of Florida): The Assistant U.S. Attorney in Middle District of Florida will replace A. Brian Albritton, who became U.S. Attorney in October 2008. Obama tapped him on June 9. Read more about O’Neill here.

– William C. Killian (Eastern District of Tennessee): The sole practitioner at William C. Killian, Attorney at Law PC will succeed James R. Dedrick, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney last summer. Obama nominated him on May 20. Read more about Killian here.

– Mark Green (Eastern District of Oklahoma): The sole practitioner and alternate city judge for Muskogee, Okla., will replace Sheldon J. Sperling, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Obama nominated Green on July 14. Read more about him here.

– Michael C. Ormsby (Eastern District of Washington): The partner at the law firm of K&L Gates LLP in Spokane, Wash., will replace James A. McDevitt, who became U.S. Attorney in 2001. Obama nominated Ormsby on March 2. Read more about him here.

The Senate has now confirmed 72 U.S. Attorneys. There are five U.S. Attorney nominees, who are still waiting for consideration by the full Senate. Among those would-be U.S. Attorneys is William Conner Eldridge Jr., the Western District of Arkansas nominee, who was tapped Wednesday.

There are 93 U.S. Attorney posts located throughout the nation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider another U.S. Attorney nominee at its meeting Thursday.

U.S. Attorney nominee Michael C. Ormsby of the Eastern District of Washington would replace James A. McDevitt, who became U.S. Attorney in 2001. Ormsby, who was nominated on March 2, is a partner at the law firm of K&L Gates LLP in Spokane, Wash. Read more about him here.

The committee will also vote on U.S. Attorney nominee Mark Green of the Eastern District of Oklahoma at its meeting Thursday.

The panel has yet to schedule votes for another four would-be U.S. Attorneys. The committee has approved 70 of President Barack Obama’s U.S. Attorney nominees, 66 of whom have won Senate confirmation. There are 93 U.S. Attorney posts.

Eastern District of Washington U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt stood behind the decision not to disclose the discovery of a bomb last month near the federal courthouse in Spokane, Wash., The Spokesman-Review reported Thursday.

The bomb was found March 28 and federal officials acknowledged the find Wednesday after Newsweek reported on Friday that an “improvised explosive device”  was found outside the Thomas S. Foley U.S. Courthouse.

“It’s an ongoing criminal investigation,” McDevitt told the newspaper. “Basically, that’s all we can say.”

Tom Rice, the spokesman for the Spokane-based U.S. Attorney’s office, declined to disclose details on the suspects or the device to The Spokesman-Review.

“I will be guarded in what I say. We would confirm that a device was located. But that’s as far as we are going to go,” Rice said. “The appropriate people in the courthouse were notified. … (W)e didn’t want to compromise the active investigation.”

McDevitt, a holdover from the George W. Bush administration, hinted that the explosive device was not a major threat to the surrounding area, as people in nearby buildings weren’t notified about the bomb.

“I’m not sure if members of the public or people in neighboring buildings were in danger,” he told the newspaper “I’m not an expert but … the device was not something that, from my standpoint, would have done any harm except to the immediate area … the area within feet.”

The bomb finding comes at a time of heightened tension in Washington state over the national health care law enacted last month. On Tuesday, the Western District of Washington U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that a man was arrested for making death threats against Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

Justice Department nominees are supposed to be tight-lipped before they are confirmed. But the nominee to be the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington didn’t get the message in time.

Mike Ormsby, who was nominated on March 3, granted an interview to The Spokesman-Review of Spokane before he learned from the DOJ that on-the-record conversations with reporters are taboo while he is going through the confirmation process.

According to the newspaper, “Ormsby, whose practice mostly includes public finance and municipal law, granted an interview to The Spokesman-Review last week before he learned of an e-mail from the U.S. Justice Department admonishing him against making any comments until after his confirmation hearing. That hearing, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, has not yet been scheduled.”

In the interview, Ormsby cast aside criticism he received from some Spokane, Wash., leaders who condemned his work in the 1990s as an attorney for the controversial nonprofit Spokane Downtown Foundation. The foundation was established to sell bonds in order to purchase a parking garage. The foundation would use the revenue from the parking garage to repay investors. Critics, including former Spokane Mayor John Talbott, have alleged the deal was “rife with fraud.” and sent a letter to President Barack Obama in March 2009 urging him not to nominate Ormsby for the Spokane-based U.S. Attorney post because of the controversy, The Spokesman-Review said.

K & L Gates LLP, Ormsby’s law firm, reached a settlement on a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service, saying that Ormsby and another lawyer did not perform sufficient “due diligence” before the nonprofit organization sold bonds to investors, according to newspaper. The law firm paid $1.4 million as part of its settlement with the city.

“I guess I’ve let it go and tried not to think about it much,” Ormsby told The Spokesman-Review. “I understand that people develop very, very strong feelings about an issue. I may not agree with them, but I certainly respect … the vehemence in the way they hold their views and their rights to express their views.”

Current U.S. Attorney James McDevitt, a George W. Bush administration holdover who also worked at K & L Gates, told the newspaper that he supports Ormsby’s nomination, although he acknowledges there were missteps in the parking garage controversy.

“But stupid decisions don’t make a crime,” McDevitt told The Spokesman-Review.

The nominee said he became interested in law when he was 11 years old. He said his godfather, a criminal defense attorney, inspired him to be a lawyer after a young Ormsby became angry with something he thought was unjust.

“He said you are in a position to help people in a number of ways as long as you were willing to listen to their issues and problems,” Ormsby told The Spokesman-Review. “I was hooked. From that point forward, I was going to college and law school to become an attorney.”

Read the full profile of Ormsby here.

Michael C. Ormsby (Gonzaga University, Gonzaga University School of Law) was  nominated March 2 to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. He would replace Bush holdover James A. McDevitt, who became the U.S. Attorney on Nov. 30, 2001.

Ormsby’s vitals:

• Born in Spokane, Wash., in 1957.
• Attended but did not earn a degree from Eastern Washington University.
• Is a member and president of Sports Enterprises LLC, which is the ownership group for the minor league Yakima Bears baseball team of the Northwest League.
• Has been a member of Short Season LLC, a management group for the Yakima Bears since 2000.
• Was a member of Yakima Equipment LLC, which owned the scoreboard at Yakima County Stadium from 2007  to 2009.
• Has been a partner at K&L Gates, LLP in Spokane, Wash., since July 1988.
• Was a partner and associate attorney at Lukins & Annis P.S. in Spokane  from 1981 to 1988. Was a librarian and law clerk at the firm from 1979 to 1981.
• Was a concessions worker at the Spokane Indians Baseball Club in Spokane during the summer of 1979.
• Has appeared in court and brought to resolution approximately 20 cases serving as associate counsel in approximately 10 of those cases, sole counsel in two and chief or co-counsel in the remainder.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Ormsby reported assets of $3.41 million, mostly from securities and two residences, and no liabilities.

President Barack Obama unveiled two nominees for U.S. Attorneys for New Mexico and the Eastern District of Washington, the White House announced today.

They are:

-Kenneth J. Gonzales (New Mexico): The Assistant U.S. Attorney, who has worked in the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office since 1999, would replace interim U.S. Attorney Gregory Fouratt, who has led the office since David Iglesias was forced out during the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings. Read more about Gonzales here.

-Michael C. Ormsby (Eastern District of Washington): The partner at K&L Gates since 1988 would succeed James A. McDevitt, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Read more about Ormsby here.

Obama has now made 52 U.S. Attorney nominations. The Senate has confirmed 34 U.S. Attorneys thus far.