The U.S. Attorney for Alaska has something in common with Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn. But it isn’t looks, The Anchorage Daily News reported today.

Karen Loeffler (Dartmouth University)

Lindsey Vonn (Wikipedia)

U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler learned to ski at the same Minnesota slope — the 300-vertical-foot Buck Hill — that turned out the gold medalist in the women’s downhill at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. But that’s where the 52-year-old Loeffler’s connection to the 27-year-old athlete ends, according to the self-deprecating U.S. Attorney.

“She’s this tall, blonde, Scandinavian type,” she said, according to The Daily News. “I’m a 5-foot-1 dumpy-looking Jewish girl.”

Loeffler added that she competed in slalom and giant slalom ski races while she attended Dartmouth College. These days, she plays for a women’s hockey team and participated in six games last weekend, according to the newspaper. Loeffler has been the U.S. Attorney since last October.

Karen Loeffler was formally sworn in Friday as the first woman U.S. attorney for the District of Alaska.

“Being the U.S. attorney is a big deal,” she said. “It’s a very important office. There’s a lot of challenges that we have now. We have very good state and local partners, and we’re working very hard on addressing issues and hearing from people what the issues are.”

Friday’s ceremony was a formality. Loeffler replaced Bush-appointee Nelson Cohen as the interim attorney in March, and officially took over the office in October.

Former U.S. Attorney Robert Bundy swore Loeffler in. Bundy represented former Bill Allen, the former oil services company exeutive at the center of a long-running corruption probe in Alaska. Allen’s testimony in the 2008 trial was later compromised by the disclosure of internal DOJ notes of his witness interview, leading to the dismissal of a high-profile public corruption case former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

Bundy praised Loeffler as a brilliant attorney. Former U.S Attorney Mike Spaan also gave a speech.

Prior to her current gig, Loeffler served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Alaska for 21 years.  She specialized in prosecuting white collar fraud, including the bribery scandal involving the North Slope of Alaska.

The Justice Department will open a branch of the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s office in the state’s capital next month, the Juneau Empire reported yesterday.

Jack Schmidt (Facebook)

Former Juneau Assistant District Attorney Jack Schmidt was recently hired to lead the Juneau branch office, according to the newspaper. The new Assistant U.S. Attorney is working out of the FBI office in Juneau while he is waiting for the branch office to open, the Juneau Empire said.

This will be the second branch of the Anchorage-based office. There is already a one-person office in Fairbanks.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” Alaska U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler told the newspaper. “We’ve worked it out of Anchorage but it certainly is better for the area to have an actual Assistant U.S. Attorney down there.”

DOJ will hire one more Assistant U.S. Attorney for the branch office, Loeffler told the Juneau Empire. But the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage will continue to handle some cases in Juneau, she told the newspaper.

Schmidt told the Juneau Empire the primary focus of the office will be on narcotics cases.

“We pursue whatever comes across our desk as long as we can prove it to a jury,” Schmidt told the newspaper. “Whether it be [drugs] through the mail, whether or not it’s being shipped here through aircraft or whatever.”

President Obama’s U.S. Attorney nominees are turning out to be a diverse bunch in terms of race, gender — and net worth.

Of the 29 U.S. Attorney candidates who have been confirmed or nominated so far, reported net worth ranges from nearly $6 million to less than $10,000, according to an analysis of financial disclosure data filed with the Senate Judiciary Committtee.

Jenny Durkan is the wealthiest of President Obama's U.S. Attorney picks announced so far.

The wealthiest include recently confirmed U.S. Attorneys Jenny Durkan of the Western District of Washington ($5.9 million) and Paul Fishman of New Jersey ($5.1 million).

Four nominees reported net worth of less than $200,000. They are Stephanie Rose, nominated to lead Iowa’s Northern District; Richard Callahan, nominated for Missouri’s Eastern District; Carter Stewart of Ohio’s Southern District; and Nick Klinefeldt, of Iowa’s Northern District.

Both Rose and Klinefeldt are under 40. Moreover, Rose has spent most of her career in government, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Iowa. Klinefeldt, meanwhile, reported little equity in his personal residence and student loan debt for both himself and his wife.

Before taking on the Western Washington job, Durkan ran her own law firm in Seattle and worked at a number of other law firms, including Williams & Connolly. She donated $288,205 to Democratic candidates, causes and organizations on the state and federal levels from 1998 to 2008, election records show.

Fishman was a partner at Friedman, Kaplan, Seiler & Adelman in New York, specializing in white-collar defense, corporate investigations and complex civil litigation.

Below is a ranking of the U.S. Attorney picks by net worth. We’ll update the table as more nominees for the 93 federal prosecuting jobs are announced.

The Senate confirmed the top federal prosecutors for Alaska and South Dakota tonight by unanimous consent.

They are:

Brendan Johnson (from South Dakota Watch blog via Facebook)

-Brendan Johnson (South Dakota): The Sioux Falls lawyer and son of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) will succeed Marty Jackley, who was sworn in as South Dakota attorney general last month is seeking a full term in that post. Johnson was nominated July 14. Read more about the Johnson here.

-Karen Loeffler (Alaska): The Alaska interim U.S. Attorney took over the post from Nelson Cohen March 1. She was nominated July 14. Read more about Loeffler here.

The Senate has now confirmed 18 U.S. Attorneys, including all nominees reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. There are another 12 nominees waiting for votes in committee. There are 93 U.S. Attorney positions around the country.

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia won confirmation Wednesday night by unanimous consent.

Timothy Heaphy (McGuire Woods)

Timothy Heaphy will replace acting U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley at the Roanoke, Va.-based post. President Obama nominated the partner at McGuireWoods in Charlottesville, Va., July 31. Read more about the Heaphy here.

Heaphy will be the first presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney to lead Western District of Virginia since John Brownlee, who resigned in April 2008 to campaign for the Virginia attorney general Republican nomination. Brownlee lost the nomination to state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli in May.

The Senate has now confirmed 16 U.S. Attorneys. The body has yet to consider U.S. Attorney nominees Brendan Johnson for South Dakota and Karen Loeffler for Alaska, who were reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. There are another 12 nominees, who are waiting for votes in committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed the U.S. Attorney nominees for South Dakota and Alaska today by unanimous consent.

They are:

Brendan Johnson (from South Dakota Watch blog via Facebook)

-Brendan Johnson (South Dakota): The Sioux Falls lawyer and son of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) was nominated July 14. He would succeed Marty Jackley, who was sworn in as South Dakota attorney general last month. Read more about the nominee here.

-Karen Loeffler (Alaska): The Alaska interim U.S. Attorney was nominated July 14. She took over the post from Nelson Cohen March 1. Read more about Loeffler here.

Sen. Johnson reportedly said in July he was staying out of the South Dakota U.S. Attorney nomination process. But the senator and his aides engaged in some surreptitious discussions with Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, to find out why his son’s nomination was not moving through the Senate, Politico reported today.

“The senator has a responsibility to the people of South Dakota to see that these posts are filled and did check on the status of the nominee, as he has with other pending presidential nominations,” Sen. Johnson spokesperson Julianne Fisher told Politico. “Of course, Sen. Johnson is proud of Brendan, but first and foremost, he wants the position filled, so we don’t have cases lingering back home.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee has  now  approved a total of 18 U.S. Attorney nominees. The Senate has confirmed 15 of those nominees. The panel has yet to vote on 12  nominees.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday will consider the nominations of Brendan Johnson for U.S. Attorney in South Dakota and Karen Loeffler for U.S. Attorney in Alaska.

Also on the agenda are nominees for the following judicial posts:

Jacqueline H. Nguyen to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California

Edward Milton Chen to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of California

Dolly M. Gee to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California

Richard Seeborg to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of California

The nomination of Steven O’Donnell to be U.S. Marshal for the District of Rhode Island will also come before the panel Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported U.S. Attorney nominees Steven Dettelbach for Ohio’s Northern District and Carter M. Stewart for Ohio’s Southern District out of committee today by voice vote.

Steven Dettelbach (ohio.gov)

Carter M. Stewart

The group of U.S. Attorney nominees endorsed by the panel grew to seven members with the addition of Dettelbach and Stewart. There are another 10 U.S. Attorney appointees that the committee has not considered yet.

The U.S. Attorney nominees reported out of committee (not including Dettelbach and Stewart) are:

-Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York (nominated June 4; reported out of committee June 18)

-Tristram Coffin for the District of Vermont (nominated June 4; reported out of committee June 18)

-Joyce Vance for the Northern District of Alabama (nominated June 4; reported out of committee June 18)

-John Paul Kacavas for the District of New Hampshire (nominated June 4; reported out of committee June 25)

-B. Todd Jones for the District of Minnesota (nominated June 4; reported out of committee June 25)

The U.S. Attorney appointees that the panel has not considered yet are:

- Jenny Durkan for the Western District of Washington (nominated: June 4)

- Paul Fishman for the District of New Jersey (nominated: June 4)

-Brendan Johnson for the District of South Dakota (nominated: July 14)

-Karen Loeffler for the District of Alaska (nominated: July 14)

-Florence Nakakuni for the District of Hawaii (nominated: July 14)

-Dennis K. Burke for the District of Arizona (nominated: July 14)

-Daniel Bogden for the District of Nevada (nominated: July 31)

-Deborah Gilg for the District of Nebraska (nominated: July 31)

-Timothy Heaphy for the Western District of Virginia (nominated: July 31)

-Peter Neronha for the District of Rhode Island (nominated: July 31)

Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)  called on the Senate again to move on all Justice Department nominees reported out of committee. Read our previous report on the delays here.

“I remain hopeful that the Senate Republican leadership will work with us to clear all these nominations for confirmation before the extended August recess,” Leahy said in a statement submitted for the record today. “Those that cannot be confirmed by unanimous consent or on a voice vote this week should be scheduled with appropriate time agreements for debate, and up-or-down votes upon the Senate’s return the week of Sept. 8.”

The panel today also approved by voice vote Vermont U.S. Marshal nominee David Demag and President Obama’s nominee to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos.

President Obama sent six more U.S. Attorney nominations to the Senate on July 14 — which means six more Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaires for Main Justice readers to chew over. We post the highlights below.

A note about transparency: The committee has begun posting U.S. Attorney questionnaires online, after previously making only hard-copies available through its office. The panel, however, has removed from the on-line versions the attachment showing details of the nominees’ personal finances. The financial information is a public record, and we have reported it in our profiles, which you can read here:

• Steven Dettelbach, Northern District of Ohio. Click here.
• Carter M. Stewart, Southern District of Ohio. Click here.
• Brendan Johnson, District of South Dakota. Click here.
• Karen Loeffler, District of Alaska. Click here.
• Florence Nakakuni, District of Hawaii. Click here.
• Dennis K. Burke, District of Arizona. Click here.