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Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004

Manuel Miranda, who worked for the Tennessee Republican on judicial nominations, has been on leave since earlier this month because of the investigation into how Democrat memos stored on a computer server shared by Judiciary Committee members ended up in GOP hands.

Miranda, a former GOP Judiciary staffer who transferred to Frist's leadership office, has now resigned, said the source on the condition of anonymity.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, began the investigation in November after Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., protested what they said was the theft of the memos from their servers. The memos, concerning political strategy on blocking confirmation of several of President Bush's judicial nominations, were obtained and reported on by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times.

Marching Orders to Obstruct Nominees

Conservatives have talked up the memos as proof the Democrats colluded with outside liberal groups in their choices of which Bush appellate nominees to block.

Hatch, the Judiciary chairman, placed an aide on leave late last year for improperly obtaining data from the computer networks of two Democrat senators. That aide, who has not been identified, has since left government work, officials said.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has been working with the Secret Service and outside investigators since November to try to determine how the Democrat memos got to Republicans. A report is expected to go to Hatch's Judiciary Committee in about two weeks, officials said.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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