The new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California filled two of the top leadership positions in his office, The Sacramento Bee reported today.

Benjamin Wagner (DOJ)

Benjamin Wagner, who was sworn in yesterday as U.S. Attorney, elevated Carolyn Delaney to be First Assistant U.S. Attorney, the office’s number two job. She was previously the Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, the third highest position in the office.

Former interim U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown was named as the office’s Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney. Brown served as acting U.S. Attorney after McGregor Scott stepped down in January. He previously served as Scott’s First Assistant.

“Larry Brown is a true professional,” Wagner said, according to The Bee.

The Senate confirmed four Justice Department officials by unanimous consent tonight.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief will succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Read our previous report on Robinson here.

Carmen Ortiz (Adelphi Univ.)

-Carmen M. Ortiz (Massachusetts U.S. Attorney): The Massachusetts Assistant U.S. Attorney will replace Michael J. Sullivan, who stepped down in April to join a law firm headed by former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Read more about Ortiz here.

Ed Tarver (Tarverforgeorgiasenate.com)

-Ed Tarver (Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney): The Georgia state senator and partner at Augusta, Ga., law firm Hull, Towill, Norman, Barrett & Salley will succeed Edmund A. Booth Jr., who resigned earlier this month. Read more about Tarver here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney will succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about Wagner here.

The Senate has now confirmed 21 U.S. Attorneys. The chamber must still consider three more U.S. Attorney nominees that were reported out of committee today.

Robinson is the second Assistant Attorney General to be confirmed today. The Senate confirmed Ignacia Moreno as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division earlier this evening. There are three more Assistant Attorney General nominees waiting for confirmation in the Senate, including long-stalled Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two Justice Department nominees at its business meeting this morning by unanimous consent.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Her confirmation hearing was Oct. 7. Read our previous report on the nominee here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about the nominee here.

The panel has now approved 19 U.S. Attorneys, including the 18 U.S. Attorneys who have been confirmed by the Senate. There are another 11 U.S. Attorney nominees who have not been considered by the committee yet.

Robinson was the last Assistant Attorney General nominee to come before the panel. She joins four Assistant Attorney General nominees, who are waiting for confirmation in the Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to consider two Justice Department nominees at its business meeting Thursday.

They are:

Laurie O. Robinson (DOJ)

-Laurie O. Robinson (Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General): The OJP Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and former office chief would succeed Bush OJP head Jeffrey Sedgwick, who resigned in January. She was nominated Sept. 14. Her confirmation hearing was Oct. 7. Read our previous report on the nominee here.

-Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District of California U.S. Attorney): The Assistant U.S. Attorney would succeed McGregor Scott, who resigned in January. Wagner was nominated Aug. 6. Read more about the nominee here.

After Wagner, the panel has another 11 more U.S. Attorney nominees who are queued up and ready to go. Robinson is the last Assistant Attorney General nominee to come before the committee.

A former U.S. Attorney is representing Jaycee Dugard, the California woman who disappeared when she was 11 years old, allegedly kidnapped and held for 18 years by a convicted sex offender who fathered her two children.

McGregor Scott (Orrick)

McGregor Scott was the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of California from 2003 until January. He is representing Dugard on a pro bono basis, he told Main Justice in an interview. Dugard, now 29, has told authorities she was held captive by Phillip and Nancy Garrido in a secret backyard structure, where she cared for her children.

Dugard was found this summer after she and her daughters accompanied Phillip Garrido, who’d previously been convicted of kidnapping and rape charges in Nevada, to a meeting with his parole officer. The couple pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The ex-U.S. Attorney previously acted as a spokesperson on the Dugard case for the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office in California, which is investigating the Garridos. Scott, a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in their Sacramento office, said he agreed last week to represent the Dugard and her daughters at the request of her family.

“These are people who will need good legal advice and counsel going forward,” Scott said.

Benjamin Wagner (DOJ)

Benjamin Wagner (Dartmouth College, New York University School of Law) is nominated to replace McGregor W. Scott, who resigned in January.

His vitals:

• Born in New York, N.Y., in 1960.
• Has worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office since 1992, serving as Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1992 to 1999 and as the chief of the special prosecutions unit. Wagner also was a resident legal adviser detailed to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia from 2005 to 2006.
• Was a summer associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York, N.Y.
• Has tried 18 criminal cases to verdict.
• As a “youngster,” volunteer for the Independent Neighborhood Democratic club, which helped campaign for a number of Democratic candidates including George McGovern and  Al Lowenstein in 1972 and Mo Udall in 1976.
• Interned for Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) in 1981.
• Received the Department of Justice’s Special Achievement Award for outstanding performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney three times since 1996.
• Plays on an over-40 soccer team in the Sacramento Adult Soccer League.

Click here for his full questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure Wagner reports owning a 50 percent interest in a beach house in Balboa, Calif.