Richard Callahan (Gov)

Richard Callahan on Friday was sworn in as the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, The St. Louis Business Journal reports. Callahan, who was nominated in September, was confirmed by the Senate Dec. 24.

He replaces Catherine Hanaway, who resigned in April 2009 to join the Ashcroft Group. Michael Reap had been the district’s acting U.S. Attorney.

Callahan has been a circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, Division II since 2003. Prior to becoming a judge he worked in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney of Cole County, Mo., serving  first as an assistant prosecutor and then as a prosecuting attorney.

In a wrap-up session just before leaving town until next year,  the Senate today confirmed seven U.S. Attorneys by voice vote.

They are:

Richard Callahan (Gov)

– Richard Callahan (Eastern District of Missouri): The state circuit judge in Missouri succeeds Catherine L. Hanaway, who resigned earlier this year. He was nominated for the post in October. Read more about Callahan here.

– Sanford Coats (Western District of Oklahoma): Coats, who been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the western Oklahoma office, succeeds John Richter, who stepped down in August. Coats was nominated on Sept. 30. Read more about Coats here.

– Michael Cotter (Montana): The Helena, Mont., lawyer replaces Bill Mercer, who is a holdover from the George W. Bush administration. Obama nominated Cotter for U.S. Attorney on Sept. 25, after the live-in girlfriend of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) withdrew from consideration. As the state’s senior Democratic senator, Baucus had recommended three candidates to the White House. Read more about Cotter here.

– Christopher Crofts (Wyoming): The counsel to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) replaces Bush holdover Kelly Rankin. He was nominated on Nov. 30. Read more about Crofts here.

Barbara L. McQuade (ICLE)

– Barbara McQuade (Eastern District of Michigan): The Eastern District of Michigan Assistant U.S. Attorney succeeds Stephen J. Murphy, who resigned in 2008. She was nominated on Nov. 30. Read more about her here.

James L. Santelle (Wisconsin Law Journal)

– James Santelle (Eastern District of Wisconsin): Santelle, who has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District office, succeeds Steven Biskupic, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney in January. Obama tapped Santelle for the post on Nov. 30. Read more about Santelle here.

– Mary Elizabeth Phillips (Western District of Missouri): Phillips, who was nominated Sept. 30, succeeds John Wood, who resigned in February. Read more about Phillips here.

The Senate has now confirmed 31 U.S. Attorneys. The Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule votes votes for another 10 would-be U.S. Attorneys, including the nominees Obama tapped today and last Tuesday. One of Obama’s nominees, Stephanie Villafuerte of Colorado, withdrew from consideration two weeks ago.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted by unanimous consent Thursday to endorse the nomination of Richard Callahan to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Richard Callahan (Gov)

President Barack Obama tapped Callahan, a state circuit judge in Missouri, for the post in October. He would succeed former U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway, who resigned earlier this year. Read more about Callahan here.

The panel has endorsed 27 U.S. Attorney nominees and 24 of those have won Senate confirmation thus far. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another seven would-be U.S. Attorneys.

The committee’s agenda for Thursday also includes a bill that would establish the same sentencing guidelines for powder cocaine and crack offenses. The House Judiciary Committee approved its version of the legislation in July.

In addition, the panel is scheduled to resume consideration of legislation that would make it harder for courts to order reporters to divulge their sources. The media shield bill has been on the committee’s agenda since April.

Andrew Ramonas contributed to this report.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote Thursday on the nomination of Richard Callahan to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, according to the panel’s Web site.

Richard Callahan (Gov)

President Barack Obama tapped Callahan, a state circuit judge in Missouri, for the post in October. He would succeed former U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway, who resigned earlier this year. Read more about Callahan here.

The panel has endorsed 26 U.S. Attorney nominees and 24 of those have won Senate confirmation thus far.  The committee has yet to schedule votes for another seven would-be U.S. Attorneys.

The committee’s agenda for Thursday also includes a bill that would establish the same sentencing guidelines for powder cocaine and crack offenses. The House Judiciary Committee approved its version of the legislation in July.

In addition, the panel is scheduled to resume consideration of legislation that would make it harder for courts to order reporters to divulge their sources. The media shield bill has been on the committee’s agenda since April.

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.

Richard Callahan (Gov)

Richard G. Callahan (Georgetown University, Georgetown University Law School) is nominated to replace Catherine L. Hanaway, who resigned earlier this year as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.

His vitals:

• Born in St. Louis, Mo., 1947.
• Has been a circuit judge in the 19th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, Division II since 2003.
• Worked in the Office of Prosecuting Attorney of Cole County, Mo. Was an assistant prosecutor from 1979 to 1986 and a prosecuting attorney from 1987 to 2002.
• Was an attorney in Robert L. Hawkins Law Offices in Jefferson City, Mo., from 1988 to 1991.
• Worked as a partner at Rost & Callahan Law Firm in Jefferson City, Mo. from 1979 to 1987.
• Was a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Missouri Attorney General’s office from 1985 to 1986.
• Served as general counsel for the Missouri General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules from 1983 to 1986.
• Worked as an assistant circuit attorney in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office from 1972 to 1978
• Was a tax law specialist at the Internal Revenue Service from 1969 to 1972
• Worked as an advertising examiner at the Federal Trade Commission from 1968 to 1969.
• Was in the Army Reserves from 1969 to 1975. Was honorably discharged in 1975. Had the rank of Specialist E-4.
• Tried more than 165 jury cases in criminal court. Was the sole or chief counsel on all but two or three of those cases.Tried 16 jury cases in civil court. Was the sole or chief counsel on all of the cases.

Click here for his full questionnaire.

UPDATE: According to his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, Callahan earns a salary of $127,582 as a judge. Of interesting note, last year he earned $7,600  from “40 Racing Pigeons.” He also does not report any liabilities. However on his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure Callahan reports assets valued at $238,300 and liabilities of $120,500 for a net worth of $117,800.

The acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Matt Whitworth, has been appointed to a U.S. magistrate judgeship, a U.S. district court announced today.

Matt Whitworth (DOJ)

Whitworth will succeed William A. Knox, who will retire in January. Whitworth, a 20-year veteran of the Western District, has led the office since February. 

The Western District hit turbulence during the Bush administration.

Former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves was one of the nine prosecutors fired by the Bush administration. Graves was replaced by Bradley Schlozman, the controversial former Civil Rights Division official who served as interim U.S. Attorney until 2007. (Attorney General Eric Holder recently decided not to prosecute Schlozman for giving misleading testimony to Congress about partisan hiring decisions at the DOJ. Click here to read our story.) Schlozman was succeeded by John F. Wood, who resigned in February after President Obama took office.

Obama has yet to nominate a new U.S. Attorney to lead the office. Patrick McInerney, a Kansas City, Mo. lawyer with Husch Blackwell Sanders, and Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan are possible candidates for the job, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.

Claire McCaskill (U.S. Senate)

We bring news of another possible U.S. attorney recommendation, this one from Missouri’s Eastern District. According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan is widely believed to be Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-Mo.) choice for the post, which is based in St. Louis.

The two are longtime friends and have worked together on criminal justice issues since both served as prosecutors in the 1990s. Neither would comment on Callahan’s rumored candidacy, but several lawyers told the newspaper the FBI has conducted a background investigation of Callahan, a strong sign Callahan’s name has been forwarded to the White House.

Callahan spent 16 years as Cole County attorney, in Jefferson City, Mo., his tenure marked by several high-profile public corruption cases. He prosecuted a Missouri secretary of state, a state senator and several other legislators from both parties.

Callahan took the bench in 2003 and has since authored dozens of important decisions. He declared Missouri’s child abuse registry unconstitutional, threw out the state’s voter ID law and validated its $2.7 billion school funding plan.

Michael Reap, who has been the Eastern District’s first assistant since 1992, is acting U.S. attorney. He replaced Catherine Hanaway, who resigned in April to join former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s law firm.