William Conner Eldridge Jr. (Davidson College, University of Arkansas School of Law) was nominated on Sept. 29 to be the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. He would replace Deborah J. Groom, who has served as U.S. Attorney since George W. Bush appointee Robert Balfe resigned in January 2009.

His vitals:

Conner Eldridge (Summit Bank)

• Born in Fayetteville, Ark., in 1977.
• Has been a special deputy prosecutor in Clark County, Ark., since 2009.
• Has been vice chairman of Summit Bank and Summit Bancorp Inc. in Arkansas since 2007. He joined the bank in 2004 as vice president for credit administration and assistant general counsel. In 2005, he became vice president for lending and assistant general counsel. From 2005 to 2006, he was Summit Bank and Summit Bancorp Inc. Arkadelphia Regional bank president. From 2006 to 2008, he served as corporate executive vice president and senior counsel; and from 2008 to 2010, he was chief executive officer for the bank.
• Has been a board member of Summit Bank and Summit Bancorp Inc. since 2005.
• Has been secretary-treasurer, director and counsel on a limited and as-needed basis for Horizon Timber Services in Arkansas since 2005.
• Has been a counsel on a limited and as-needed basis for the Whipple Family Limited Partnership since 2004.
• Was a limited partner of the Whipple Family Banking Partnership from 2004 to 2009.
• Served as director of Travel Nurse Across America in North Little Rock, Ark., from 2004 to 2005.
• Clerked for U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele of the Eastern District of Arkansas from 2003 to 2004.
• Spent stints as a law clerk at the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office in Arkansas; Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates and Woodyard PLLC in Little Rock, Ark.; Bass, Berry and Sims PLC in Memphis, Tenn.; Wright, Lindsey and Jennings LLP in Little Rock; Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull and Burrow PLLC in Little Rock and the Eldridge Law Firm in Fayetteville from 2000 to 2003.
• Served as a legislative assistant to Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) from 1999 to 2000.
• Was a legislative correspondent for Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) in 1999.
• Served as a candidate assistant to Lincoln in her 1998 campaign for Senate.
• Was named “Most Likely to Succeed in the Practice of Law” by the University of Arkansas School of Law.
• Was listed in the Arkansas Business’s “Top 40 under 40.”
• Has tried 39 cases to verdict, serving as chief counsel in 36 cases and associate counsel in three cases.
• He has not practiced in federal court, only Arkansas state court.

Click here for his Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure, Eldridge reported assets valued at $15.7 million, mostly from the Whipple Family partnerships, and $507,000 in liabilities mostly from mortgages, for a net worth of $15 million.

UPDATE: On his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, Eldridge reported making $409,499.88 since January 2009 as an official at Summit Bank and Summit Bancorp Inc. He also reported receiving $123,052.18 from the Whipple Family Banking Partnership and $102,020.33 from the Ross M. Whipple Children’s Trust since January 2009.

Charles M. Oberly III (Drinker Biddle)

Charles Oberly (The Pennsylvania State University, University of Virginia School of Law) was nominated on Sept. 16 to be the U.S. Attorney for Delaware. He would succeed Colm Connolly, who resigned as U.S. Attorney in 2007.

His vitals:

• Born in Wilmington, Del., in 1946.
• Has been of counsel at Drinker, Biddle and Reath LLP in Wilmington since 2009.
• Served as an instructor, teaching courses on  Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminal Evidence, in the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology at the University of Delaware from 1980 until June 2010.
• Was an income partner at WolfBlock LLP (now dissolved) in Wilmington from 2008 to 2009.
• Served as partner at Oberly, Jennings & Rhodunda PA (firm later merged with WolfBlock LLP) in Wilmington from 1995 to 2008.
• Served as attorney general of Delaware from 1983 to 1995.
• Lost an election for the U.S. Senate in 1994 against U.S. Sen. William Roth (R).
• Served as Delaware deputy attorney general from 1979 to 1983 and from 1975 to 1976.
• Served as a state prosecutor for the Delaware Department of Justice from 1976 to 1979.
• Was an associate at Morris James Hitchens & Williams LLP (now Morris James LLP) in Wilmington from 1972 to 1975.
• Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge James L. Latchum in Wilmington from 1971 to 1972.
• Attended Wesley Junior College from 1964 to 1966.
• Has tried about 75 cases to verdict, serving as chief counsel in about 10 to 15 cases and as associate counsel in less than 10.
• Served as a court-appointed arbitrator in about five cases.

Click here for his Senate Judiciary questionnaire.

On his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, Oberly reported making $216,087.36 as of counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and $285,541 as a partner at WolfBlock LLP in 2009. He also made $14,750 as an instructor at the University of Delaware from 2009 to 2010.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure, Oberly reported assets valued at $4.2 million, mostly from real estate, and $234,500 in liabilities, mostly from mortgages, for a net worth of $4 million.

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

They are:

Joe Hogsett (Bingham McHale LLP)

-- 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 (Gov)

– 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.

Bill Killian (WCKlaw)

– 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 (K&L Gates LLP)

– 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.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated a former bank executive to lead the Western District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Conner Eldridge (Summit Bank)

William Conner Eldridge Jr., 33, was the chief executive officer for Summit Bank in Arkansas before he stepped down this year. He is currently a special deputy prosecutor for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of Clark County, Ark.

Eldridge would replace Deborah J. Groom, who has led the U.S. Attorney’s office since the resignation of former U.S. Attorney Robert Balfe in January 2009.

The then-bank executive was initially recommended for the job last year by Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both Democrats.

A black state prosecutor, Carlton Jones, was also under consideration before he decided to withdraw from consideration earlier this year amid rising frustration among Arkansas black leaders about the glacial pace of the nominating process.

Eldridge graduated from Davidson College in 1999 and the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2003. He clerked for U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas from 2003 to 2004.

In a statement, Lincoln said Eldridge is a former member of her Senate staff and said he “enjoys widespread support in the state.”

If confirmed, Eldridge would appear to be the youngest U.S. Attorney appointed during the Obama administration. Brendan Johnson, the U.S. Attorney for South Dakota and son of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), was 34 years old when he was nominated last year.

Obama has now nominated 78 U.S. Attorneys, 66 of whom have won Senate confirmation and one of whom has said he would withdraw. There are 93 U.S. Attorney posts located throughout the nation.

This article has been updated.

A former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer is under consideration for the Utah U.S. Attorney nomination, the Salt Lake City Weekly reported.

Brent Baker (Parsons Behle & Latimer)

Brent Baker handled white-collar fraud cases during his 13 years at the SEC. He is currently a shareholder and member of the litigation department and securities litigation group at the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City. Read more about him here.

Baker declined comment to the news website, saying: “those kinds of decisions at the nomination process are left to the White House.” Scott Burns, a Republican and former county prosecutor from Iron County, Utah, is also reportedly under consideration for the U.S. Attorney post.

Utah Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schwendiman was once the leading candidate for the nomination. But the White House decided against nominating Schwendiman for the U.S. Attorney post last summer.

The White House and Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), who recommended Schwendiman, have remained mum on why the Assistant U.S. Attorney did not get the nod.

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

Michael C. Ormsby (K&L Gates LLP)

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.

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

U.S. Attorney nominee Mark Green of the Eastern District of Oklahoma would replace Sheldon J. Sperling, who has been U.S. Attorney since 2001. Green, who was nominated on July 14, is a sole practitioner and alternate city judge for Muskogee, Okla. Read more about him here.

The panel has yet to schedule votes for another five 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.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two more U.S. Attorney nominees by voice vote at its meeting Thursday.

They are:

Bill Killian (WCKlaw)

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

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

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider two more U.S. Attorney nominees at its meeting Thursday.

They are:

Bill Killian (WCKlaw)

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

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

The panel has yet to schedule votes for another six would-be U.S. Attorneys.  The committee has approved 68 of Obama’s U.S. Attorney nominees, 66 of whom have won Senate confirmation. There are 93 U.S. Attorney posts.

President Barack Obama did not install enough U.S. Attorneys during his more than a year and a half in office to meet the pace set by his last two predecessors, according to a Main Justice analysis of the presidential appointments.

Obama has appointed 66 U.S. Attorneys, while former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton each installed 81 of the prosecutors during the first 19 months of their administrations. But the president has another 10 U.S. Attorney nominees waiting in the wings. There are 93 U.S. Attorney posts located throughout the nation.

Richard Rossman (NAFUSA)

Rich Rossman, president of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys, told Main Justice that the pace of appointments is “very discouraging.” Rossman, who was speaking for himself and not on behalf of the organization that includes more than 200 ex-U.S. Attorneys, said he is disappointed in the speed the Senate and the White House are moving through the process.

“I have no criticism of the people who are actually managing these offices and are in the positions that they’re in, but I do believe that each president is entitled to appoint his own candidates and that there ought to be a respectful and swift confirmation process for those candidates,” said Rossman, who led the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1980 to 1981. “And I think that … my guess is that this has been the slowest process and the least number of presidentially appointed persons actually put in place [thus far] into the administration in the history of these appointments.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who is the chairman of the Senate panel that considers U.S. Attorney nominees, blamed Republicans for the pace of the confirmations, telling Main Justice that GOP senators held up some U.S. Attorney nominees for “months and months and months.”

He said Republican delays are discouraging to prospective U.S. Attorneys.

“We have people who don’t want the job because of [the delays],” Leahy said.

A Republican aide told Main Justice that the Senate’s work on U.S. Attorney nominations slowed down during the consideration of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But the aide said GOP senators are not to blame for the pace because Democrats schedule U.S. Attorney votes in committee and on the Senate floor.

A White House spokesman declined comment to Main Justice.

U.S. Attorneys appointed by Bush remain at the helm of eight districts.

There were only three Clinton U.S. Attorneys who remained in office by this time in the Bush administration. There was one U.S. Attorney appointed by President George H.W. Bush who remained in office at this point in the Clinton presidency. (Clinton dismissed all the U.S. Attorneys when he took office. He only reappointed the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.)

U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding (DOJ)

The Obama administration has indicated that two of the U.S. Attorneys – Patrick Fitzgerald of the Northern District of Illinois and Jim Letten of the Eastern District of Louisiana – will be kept in place. Another U.S. Attorney, George E.B. Holding of the Eastern District of North Carolina, will also likely stay on until his office completes its work on investigations into two high-profile Democrats: former Gov. Mike Easley and two-time presidential candidate, ex-Sen. John Edwards. One of the Bush U.S. Attorneys, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, could also serve well into the Obama administration, since his state’s Democratic senators haven’t appeared to push for someone to replace him.

But three Bush-appointed U.S. Attorneys could soon be on their way out if the Senate confirms their would-be successors.

Obama nominated Michael C. Ormsby on March 2 to succeed U.S. Attorney James A. McDevitt of the Eastern District of Washington. The president also tapped Robert O’Neill on June 9 to replace U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton of the Middle District of Florida. Mark Green on July 14 received his nomination to succeed U.S. Attorney Sheldon J. Sperling in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Though a U.S. Attorney appointed by Bush, Leura Canary of the Middle District of Alabama, will likely remain in office until at least the end of the year, despite opposition from state Democrats. Rep. Artur Davis, the senior House Democrat in Alabama, recommended criminal defense lawyer George Beck Jr. for the post, but Obama has yet to nominate her successor.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” G. Douglas Jones, who served as the Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney during the Clinton administration, told Main Justice earlier this month.

The Bush holdovers: Rod Rosenstein (Md.); Patrick Fitzgerald (N. Ill.); Leura Canary (Middle Ala.); and Jim Letten (E. La.) (DOJ)

Another 19 offices are led by either acting, interim or court-appointed U.S. Attorneys. Interim or court-appointed U.S. Attorneys have led three offices — in the Eastern District of Arkansas, Southern District of Indiana and Puerto Rico — for at least the last two and a half years. The other 16 offices are led by prosecutors who took control after October 2008.

Of the 19 offices, six of them have Obama nominees waiting in the wings. The majority of the remaining 13 offices that don’t have nominees are in Southern states with Republican leanings.

The lack of Obama U.S. Attorney nominees for offices in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi has been a particularly sore spot for Democrats.

Democratic Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor in May 2009 recommended three candidates for each of the state’s two U.S. Attorney’s offices. Later that year, a black state prosecutor also was added to the list for the U.S. Attorney post in the Western District of Arkansas.

But two candidates for U.S. Attorney have since withdrawn their names from consideration.

The state prosecutor withdrew his name from consideration of the U.S. Attorney post in the Western District of Arkansas earlier this year amid rising frustration among black leaders in the state. Another candidate to lead the Eastern District of Arkansas U.S. Attorney’s Office withdrew this summer.

Lincoln, the senior senator in Arkansas, faces a difficult battle for her reelection after winning a contentious Democratic primary earlier this year in a state where Obama is not well-liked.

A spokesman for Lincoln did not have an immediate comment for Main Justice.

In Texas, a battle is raging between the state’s Republican senators, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the chairman of the Texas Democratic House delegation, over who gets to make recommendations for the four U.S. Attorney posts in the state.

Senators traditionally make recommendations for presidential appointees since the Senate votes on nominees. But the responsibility will often fall on House members who are in the same party as the president when both of the state’s senators are not in the president’s party.

Doggett and the Texas senators submitted their own lists of U.S. Attorney candidates to the White House last fall. They agreed on two U.S. Attorney candidates, one of whom Obama nominated in February to lead the Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s Office. But he withdrew his name from consideration in April.

A spokeswoman for the Doggett did not have an immediate comment for Main Justice.

Obama also hasn’t nominated U.S. Attorneys for the two offices in Mississippi. Rep. Bennie Thompson is taking the lead on selecting U.S. Attorney candidates for the state’s congressional Democrats because Mississippi’s senators are Republicans.

Thompson has only formally recommended one U.S. Attorney candidate. But that U.S. Attorney hopeful for the Northern District of Mississippi doesn’t appear to be the frontrunner anymore. A state senator and an Assistant U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of Mississippi now seem to be the top candidates for the Northern District post.

A spokesman for Thompson declined comment to Main Justice.