George Beck Jr. was a white-collar defense lawyer at Capell & Howard and former state prosecutor. Beck was the third lawyer that former Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) recommended for the job. The White House had eliminated defense lawyers Joe Van Heest of Montgomery and Michel Nicrosi of Mobile, who ran into opposition from the state’s Republican senators.

Joyce Vance was named interim U.S. Attorney on June 19 after her nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. She was previously the Chief of the Appellate Division in the Northern District of Alabama. She started at the U.S. Attorney's office in 1991. Her husband, Robert Vance Jr., is a judge in the Jefferson County, Ala., Circuit Court. She was recommended by Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.). She was sworn in Aug. 27.

Kenyen Brown was a staffer on the House ethics committee on Capitol Hill. Brown was not one of the two candidates recommended to the White House by Rep. Artur Davis, the senior Democrat in the Alabama congressional delegation. Davis's first choice was Vicki Davis (no relation), an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama's Southern District. Davis's second choice was Patrick Sims, a civil litigation attorney at Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O'Neal in Mobile, Ala.

Karen Loeffler, 52, was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska for 20 years and previously served as the office's interim U.S. Attorney. From 1986 to 1989, she was an assistant district attorney in Alaska and served on detail as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. From 1985 to 1986, she was an assistant attorney general in the Oil and Gas Division of the Alaska attorney general’s office. From 1983 to 1985, she was a litigation associate at Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis.

John S. Leonard was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 21, 2012. He previously served as a Superior Court judge in Pima County, Az. Before taking the bench, Leonardo served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona from 1982 to 1993. He was an AUSA in the Northern District of Indiana from 1973 to 1982. Leonardo also worked as an assistant state's attorney for Prince George's County, Md., from 1972 to 1973. He would fill the vacancy left by Dennis K. Burke, who resigned last summer amid the Fast and Furious scandal. Burke was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed as the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix on Sept. 15, 2009. Burke resigned on Aug. 30, 2011 as part of an Obama administration house-cleaning following revelations about a botched gun-tracing program called Operation Fast and Furious. Burke's office oversaw the program, run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which intended to track guns purchased in the United States by straw buyers acting as middlemen agents for Mexican drug cartels. However, ATF lost track of many of the weapons, two of which were found at the scene of a shootout in Arizona with cartel members that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent named Brian Terry dead. Acting ATF Director Ken Melson also lost his job in the shake-up. Burke was previously a rising star in the Democratic Party, mentioned as a possible Senate candidate before the Fast and Furious scandal. Burke had been a senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano before taking the U.S. Attorney job. He had previously served as Napolitano's chief of staff when she was governor of Arizona.

Christopher R. Thyer has been a partner at Stanley & Thyer, P.A., since 2007. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor in 2009 recommended Michael D. Barnes, a civil litigation specialist at Little Rock, Ark. law firm Wright, Lindsey & Jennings; Christopher R. Thyer, a trial lawyer with Stanley & Thyer in Jonesboro, Ark.; and Edward O. Walker, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Barnes was reportedly the leading candidate for a long time, but in August 2010 - with no movement on the nomination - Barnes issued a statement withdrawing from consideration. The Little Rock-based office hasn't had a Senate-approved head since 2006, when Bud Cummins was ousted in the Bush administration's U.S. Attorney firings.

Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor recommended William Conner Eldridge, Jr., the young CEO of Summit Bank in Arkadelphia, back in May 2009. He candidacy took a political detour before President Obama nominated him 16 months later, in September 2010. In between, someone who wasn't recommended by the senators - a black state prosecutor named Carlton Jones - emerged as the leading candidate. Then the chief deputy prosecutor in Arkansas’s Miller and Lafayette counties, Jones had instead been recommended as a federal judge, although Jones had desired the U.S. Attorney appointment. But his name then appeared back in play for the U.S. Attorney job, apparently to satisfy restive black community leaders in Arkansas. Jones eventually got tired of waiting for action on his candidacy and withdrew from consideration in February 2010 after meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington. Eldridge, 31, apparently used the nominating delay to get some prosecuting experience, resigning from the bank in 2009 to be a Special Deputy Prosecutor for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of Clark County. Also recommended by the Arkansas senators in 2009 were Shawn J. Johnson, an assistant attorney general in the Arkansas attorney general’s office; and Christopher D. Plumlee, chief of the criminal section in the Western District of Arkansas.

Andre Birotte was the Los Angeles Police Department inspector general.

Benjamin B. Wagner was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of California. He was sworn in Nov. 9, 2009.

Melinda Haag was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Laura Duffy was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California.

John Walsh was a partner at Hill & Robbins PC. Stephanie Villafuerte, the deputy chief of staff to Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) for community outreach and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, was the first nominee. However, after coming under fire for reportedly asking employees of the Denver district attorney's office to access a restricted government database in connection with the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, she withdrew her nomination on Dec. 14, 2009, because of the "political attacks" surrounding her role in the 2006 gubernatorial campaign.

David Fein was a partner in the law firm Wiggin & Dana, a former associate counsel to President Bill Clinton and a former federal prosecutor in New York’s Southern District. Fein was selected over Nora Dannehy, the prosecutor investigating the U.S. Attorney firings. She has been a prosecutor since 1991, specializing in white collar and public corruption cases. In April 2008, Dannehy was named acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut — the first woman to hold the job.

Charles M. Oberly III, who is now of counsel with the Wilmington office of the firm Drinker Biddle, was the Delaware attorney general from 1983 to 1995. He had a failed bid for U.S. Senate in 1994.

Ronald C. Machen Jr. was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. He was a member of the firm’s Litigation/Controversy Department and Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice Group. Machen was a federal prosecutor in the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office from 1997 to 2001, working in the fraud and public corruption section and the homicide section.

Robert O'Neill was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Florida.

Pamela C. Marsh was a lawyer at the Tallahassee, Fla. office of the Akerman Senterfitt law firm, where she focused on white-collar criminal defense and government investigations. Marsh previously served as a Middle District of Florida Assistant U.S. Attorney and as a clerk to U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals Jane R. Roth.

Wilfredo Ferrer was an assistant Dade County, Fla. attorney.

Michael Moore was a Georgia state senator and lawyer in Houston County, Ga. His nomination was stalled in the Senate for about a year. There was also an odd lag time between Moore's nomination and his filing of his Senate questionnaire containing background and financial information. Finally, on Sept. 16, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates had been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the office since 1989. In 2009, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) contacted the White House to try and get Yates' name taken off the short list for U.S. Attorney. Although her name was temporarily removed from the list, she was added back on this summer.

Ed Tarver was a Georgia state senator and partner at Augusta, Ga., law firm Hull, Towill, Norman, Barrett & Salley.

Alicia Limtiaco was the Guam attorney general from 2007 to 2010. She was the second person to be elected to the position, which was a gubernatorial appointment prior to 2002.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni was a federal prosecutor in Honolulu for more than 20 years. She was sworn in Sept. 30, 2009.

Wendy Olson has worked at the district's U.S.Attorney's office since 2006.

James Lewis led Civil Division in the Central District of Illinois U.S. Attorney's Office for two decades. He was a Justice Department Civil Division trial attorney and civil rights lawyer in Mississippi before joining the Central District.

Stephen Wigginton was with Belleville, Ill., firm Weilmuenster & Wigginton from 2000 to 2010. He also spent eight years as a litigator at other law firms. He also served as a criminal prosecutor in the Circuit Attorney’s Office in St. Louis.

David Capp has worked at the U.S. Attorney's office since 1985.

Joe Hogsett was a partner at Bingham McHale LLP in Indianapolis, served as Indiana secretary of state from 1989 to 1994 and was chief of staff for then-Gov. Evan Bayh from 1995 to 1997.

Stephanie Rose was the deputy criminal chief for the Northern District of Iowa. She has served as a law clerk, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney since coming to the Northern District of Iowa in 1996. She was recommended by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Nick Klinefeldt was an attorney in Des Moines, Iowa.

Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) recommended that Overland Park, Kan., attorney Barry Grissom be the state’s next top federal prosecutor. Grissom, who has a private law practice specializing in civil litigation with a focus on employment discrimination, was a legal adviser to Moore during his first two congressional races.

Kerry Harvey is a partner at the law firm Owen, Harvey & Carter, in Benton, Ky.

David Hale was an attorney at Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice since 1999. Hale previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Longtime U.S. Attorney Jim Letten resigned abruptly in December 2012 amid allegations two of his deputies were commenting anonymously online about ongoing federal probes. The two admitted to the conduct, and Letten removed himself from office. The Justice Department tapped Dana Boente to serve as an interim U.S. Attorney until Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) recommends a name to the president.

Former U.S. Rep. Don Cazayoux (D) was defeated for re-election by Republican Bill Cassidy last year, six months after he won a special election that was heralded as a sign of Democratic strength in the South. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) recommended him to the White House on May 19.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley has worked in the Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Lafayette and Lake Charles Division of the Western District of Louisiana for 13 years. She was previously the acting deputy chief of the office's criminal division. Finley is also a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves.

Thomas Delahanty II was a Superior Court Justice in Maine.

Although it appears Rosenstein is staying in the job, names that were mentioned in 2009 as Democratic replacements for him included Stuart O. Simms, a partner at Brown, Goldstein & Levy who also served an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland; W. Warren Hamel a partner at Venable and an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland from 1990 to 2002: and Jane F. Barrett, the director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland. She is also a former Assistant U.S. Attorney. Other names that were once mentioned as possible nominees: Zuckerman Spaeder partner Gregg L. Bernstein, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland from 1987 to 1991 and Paul M. Tiao, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Maryland.

Carmen Ortiz was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts for 12 years. She is the first Hispanic and female U.S. Attorney for the state.

Barbara McQuade was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district.

Patrick A. Miles Jr. was nominated on March 29, 2022 after the previous candidate for the job, Scott Bowen, the state lottery commissioner, failed to win action in the Senate. Bowen is a former district judge and was a founder and partner at Bowen, Distel & Haynes. His nomination was returned to the White House on Dec. 22, 2010. Bowen was also a special assistant attorney general for the Michigan Department of Transportation. Miles, a Democrat, lost a race for Michigan's 3rd congressional district in 2010.

B. Todd Jones was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota from 1998 to 2001. Most recently he was in private practice at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in Minneapolis. He was recommended by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D). His nomination was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 25. He was sworn in Aug. 13, 2009. Jones is the chair the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys.

Felicia Adams was an Assistant U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of Mississippi. Christi McCoy was initially recommended for the job by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) McCoy is a criminal defense attorney in Oxford, Miss. She once worked at the law firm of Joey Langston -- who pleaded guilty to conspiring with trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs to bribe a judge. McCoy also represented former state auditor Steve Patterson, who pleaded guilty in another Scruggs-related judge bribery case.

Gregory K. Davis was a partner at Davis, Gross & Williams PLLC in Jackson, Miss. He was nominated on June 29, 2011. He was confirmed on March 29, 2022 with the backing of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) Don Burkhalter and John Dowdy led the office for the nearly three-year period between Davis's confirmation and the resignation of Dunn Lampton in 2009. Lampton died in 2011.

Richard Callahan served as a judge in Cole County, Mo., and as Cole County prosecutor.

Angela Tammy Dickinson took over after Beth Phillips was tapped to join the federal bench in Missouri. Dickinson was a longtime county prosecutor, most recently working as the chief trial assistant in the Jackson County Prosecutor's office. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri Law School.

Mike Cotter was a self-employed Helena, Mont., attorney. He was recommended Sen. Max Baucus (D).

Deborah Gilg was a self-employed Ogallala, Neb., attorney. She previously served as the Keith County, Neb., attorney from 1987 to 2002. She was recommended by Sen. Ben Nelson (D). She was sworn in Oct. 1, 2009.

Daniel Bogden served as the Nevada U.S. Attorney from 2001 until 2007, when he was forced to resign in the U.S. Attorney purge. He most recently was an attorney at McDonald, Carano and Wilson in Reno, Nev. He was recommended by Sen. Harry Reid (D). He was sworn in Oct. 1, 2009.

John Kacavas was a founding partner at Kacavas Ramsdell & Howard in Manchester, N.H. He was sworn in Aug. 13, 2009

Paul Fishman was a white-collar criminal attorney at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman in New York. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as First Assistant Attorney. He also was a senior adviser to then-Attorney General Janet Reno from 1994 to 1997. He was recommended by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez.

Kenneth J. Gonzales had been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district since 1999.

Loretta E. Lynch previously served as the U.S. Attorney for New York's Eastern District from 1999 to 2001.

Richard Hartunian was an Albany County, N.Y., assistant district attorney.

Preet Bharara was Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2005 until August 2009. He helped lead the panel’s investigation into the firings of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush administration. Bharara also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he was known for his prosecutions of mobsters and gang members. SDNY is considered the most prestigious of the U.S. Attorney posts. He was sworn in Aug. 13, 2009

William J. Hochul Jr. was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of New York. A 2008 Justice Department Inspector General report found the George W. Bush administration declined to promote the experienced counter-terrorism prosecutor because of his wife’s affiliation with the Democratic Party. Under the direction of then-DOJ White House liaison Monica Goodling, a less experienced Republican was promoted over Hochul.

Thomas Walker was a partner at the law firm of Alston & Bird LLP in Charlotte, N.C.

Ripley Rand has served as a superior court judge in Raleigh, N.C., since 2002. Rand was an assistant district attorney in the Tenth Prosecutorial District of North Carolina directing the domestic violence unit and participating on the dangerous offenders task force.

Anne Tompkins was a partner at Alston and Bird. Tompkins was one of four Assistant U.S. Attorneys who were part of the initial Iraqi Regime Crimes Liason Office in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.

Tim Purdon was an attorney at Vogel Law Firm, Bismarck, N.D.

Steve Dettelbach was a white-collar criminal attorney at Baker and Hostetler in Cleveland. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio and Maryland. He also was a prosecutor at Justice Department headquarters.

Carter Stewart was an attorney at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Columbus, Ohio. From 2003 to 2005, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California. He was sworn in on Sept. 30, 2009.

Mark Green was a solo practitioner in Muskogee, Okla. He also spent time as an alternate judge to the City of Muskogee, a public defender and Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Danny C. Williams Sr. has been a partner at the firm of Charney, Buss & Williams since 2003. He was an assistant district attorney in Tulsa from 1991 to 1993.

Sanford Coats has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Oklahoma since 2004. Simultaneously, he headed the major crimes section of the office from 2007 to 2008.

Amanda Marshall is a child advocacy attorney at the Oregon Department of Justice who may have been the first U.S. Attorney candidate to conduct a Facebook campaign for the job. She previously served as an assistant state attorney general. From 1996 to 2001, Marshall served as a deputy district attorney for Coos County, Ore. Her nomination was returned to the White House at the end of 2010 after the Senate failed to take action. The White House re-nominated her on March 2, 2011. The full Senate confirmed her on Sept. 26, 2011.

Zane D. Memeger was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district for 11 years before leaving in 2006 to join the law firm Morgan Lewis, where he is now a partner. His practice focuses on corporate and white collar crime. While in the U.S. Attorney's office Memeger served on the organized crime strike force. He was on the team that successfully prosecuted mobster Joey Merlino and Imam Shamsud-din Ali on racketeering charges.

Peter J. Smith was an Eastern District of Pennsylvania Assistant U.S. Attorney.

David Hickton is the co-founder of transportation law firm Burns, White and Hickton.

Peter Neronha was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Rhode Island from 2002 until mid 2009. Neronha prosecuted drug, organized crime and public corruption cases in the office's criminal division.

Bill Nettles was a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Columbia, S.C.

Brendan Johnson was a partner at Johnson, Heidepriem, Abdallah and Johnson, LLP, in Sioux Falls, S.D. From 2003 to 2005, Johnson was a state prosecutor. He is the son of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.).

Bill Killian is a former assistant district attorney and a sole practioner.

Jerry E. Martin was a partner at Barrett Johnston & Parsley since 2007, where he had previously been an associate from 2003 until 2007.

Edward L. Stanton III was the senior counsel for Federal Express. He previously was an associate attorney at Armstrong Allen PLLC and an assistant city attorney in Memphis.

John Malcom Bales was the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from 2009 until his Senate confirmation on Sept. 26, 2011. His nomination on June 28, 2022 came after Rep. Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat, lost a battle with the state's two Republican senators for sway with the White House over Texas U.S. Attorney nominations. In the end, the recommendations of GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson for all four Texas U.S. Attorney jobs were accepted and approved by the Senate. Bales was Obama's second nominee for the post. John B. Stevens Jr. a judge in the Jefferson County Criminal District Court in Texas, was the president's first nominee. He was a consensus candidate of the Texas senators and Doggett. However, after no movement on the nomination, Stevens withdrew from consideration on April 22, 2010, citing the best interests of his family.

Sarah Saldana is an Assistant U.S. Attorney who heads the fraud and public corruption division in the Dallas-based Northern District. She was recommended by Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and nominated by the White House on June 28, 2011.See the John Bales description above for background on the partisan fight in Texas over the U.S. Attorney nominations.

Kenneth Magidson is Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Houston-based office and heads the organized crime drug enforcement task force for the Southwest region. He was recommended by Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison after Texas House Democrats led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin lost a fight to have the Obama administration accept their recommendations. Magidson was nominated on June 28, 2022 and confirmed in September 2011.

Robert Pitman has been a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas since 2003. He was recommended by Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and nominated by the White House on June 28, 2011. He is the first openly gay U.S. Attorney in Texas.

President Barack Obama's nomination of David B. Barlow, an aide to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah,) a Tea Party favorite, astonished Democrats. But the nomination was in keeping with the Obama White House's apparent political calculus that it suffers little by disappointing its own party on U.S. Attorney nominations and gains more by placating Republicans in states, like Utah and Texas, where the GOP holds both Senate seats. Also astonishing: Barlow nomination comes as Obama's re-election campaign is already in swing. In other words, filling the office is an apparently low priority of the White House. The history of the search for a nominee is long. Utah AUSA David Schwendiman dropped out of consideration in July 2010 as his nomination stalled. Schwendiman was recommended to Obama by Utah Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. Schwendiman had previously served overseas as an international prosecutor in the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Utah Democrats were reportedly unhappy when news later surfaced that the White House was considering nominating a Republican, Scott Burns, former deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the George W. Bush administration. Brent Baker, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer, was also under consideration for the nomination. In January 2011 he withdrew his name due to political delays. Once Barlow was nominated on Aug. 2, 2011, he was swiftly confirmed.

Tristram J. Coffin was a white-collar criminal attorney at Paul Frank + Collins in Burlington, Vt. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont. He was sworn in Aug. 13, 2009.

Ronald W. Sharpe had served as the district's interim U.S. Attorney from 2009 to 2011. Before moving to the Virgin Islands, Sharpe worked in the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia from 1995 to 2008, first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and then as First Assistant U.S. Attorney. Prior to entering the public sector Sharpe was an associate at Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue (now Jones Day) from 1991 to 1995.

Neil MacBride was an associate deputy attorney general. Previously, he was the vice president of legal affairs at Business Software Alliance in Washington, D.C. where he directed efforts against Internet piracy. He also worked as the staff director and chief counsel for then-Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) from 2001 to 2005, and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for D.C. from 1996 to 2001.

Timothy Heaphy was an attorney with McGuireWoods in Richmond, Va. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2003 to 2005 and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C. from 1994 to 2003.

Michael C. Ormsby was a partner at K&L Gates, LLP from 1988 to October 2010. He started his legal career as an associate attorney at Lukins & Annis P.S., where he worked from 1981 to 1988.

Seattle lawyer Jenny Durkan, who is openly gay, experienced a delayed confirmation due to unexplained objections from Republicans. She was sworn in Oct. 1, 2009.

William Ihlenfeld II was a partner with Ihlenfeld Law Office, PLLC in Wheeling, W.Va. He also served as the assistant prosecuting attorney for Brooke County, W.Va., in the northern panhandle region of the state. From 1997 to 2007, he was an assistant prosecuting attorney and the chief assistant prosecutor for Ohio County, which is also located in the northern panhandle and includes Wheeling.

R. Booth Goodwin was chief of the Southern District's economic crimes section.

James L. Santelle was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

John Vaudreuil had been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the office since 1980, and was the office’s Criminal Division chief.

Christopher A. Crofts was Gov. David Freudenthal’s legal counsel since 2006 to 2009. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 16 years.