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U.S. Attorney Needs Private Help
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey A. Taylor, wants lawyers in private firms to provide his office free help, according to a report in the Washington Post. Taylor’s proposal, which is presently being considered by the Justice Department and the D.C. Court of Appeals, would have private lawyers appointed special assistant U.S. attorneys and serve six-month tours representing the U.S. in D.C. Superior Court. These extra troops would help the nation’s busiest U.S. Attorney’s office to handle thousands of misdemeanor cases that stack up each year. The private deputies would supplement an already busy cadre of lawyers from other federal agencies who have been detailed as special assistant U.S. attorneys. But Taylor wants to allow lawyers drawing a paycheck outside government to come aboard and help as well, according to the Post report.
Story Continues Below Some of the region's local prosecutors, however, are questioning whether the criminal justice system is the right venue for the unique public-private partnership. No other U.S. Attorney is considering the novel move. "I wouldn't do it unless I absolutely had to get by," said Paul B. Ebert, the commonwealth's attorney in Prince William Countys. "Prosecution has become pretty specialized. To be a good prosecutor, you have to have something more than a law degree."
"It's an indication of just how short-staffed the federal government is right now," said Paul C. Light, a professor of public service at New York University. "We are not hiring many employees outside of the war on terrorism, which is leaving many agencies under-resourced for their mission." Recently, the budget for U.S. attorneys' offices has fallen about 5 percent since 2003, according to Richard Kogan, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Reps.
Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., have criticized the Justice Department for understaffing many U.S. attorneys' offices, including the District's. At full compliment, the office in Washington has 360 prosecutors; it now has about 320, officials said. Roscoe C. Howard Jr., who was U.S. attorney from 2001 to 2004, said, "To have the equivalent of temporary private contractors performing what I would consider a core government function, it doesn't give me a very warm and fuzzy feeling."
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