SEATTLE — Federal court judges have agreed to keep Jeff Sullivan, who has been serving as U.S. attorney in Seattle since the Bush administration fired John McKay, in the position indefinitely.
Under an order signed by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik on Wednesday, Sullivan’s appointment will become official on Oct. 12. All judges in the Western Washington judicial district concurred with the decision, Lasnik said.
Sullivan, who served as McKay’s chief criminal deputy, was named the interim U.S. attorney after McKay was fired earlier this year along with other prosecutors in a controversy that threw the Justice Department into turmoil and eventually led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
“Our court has great regard for the United States Attorney’s Office in this district,” Lasnik said. “We wanted to maintain the standard of excellence and professionalism that John McKay set and that Jeff Sullivan has continued as interim U.S. attorney.”
A controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act allowed the Bush administration to name U.S. attorneys — who serve as the Justice Department’s top lawyer in any district — without confirmation from the Senate. That provision was repealed this year amid the uproar over the firings of at least eight U.S. attorneys around the country.
Once the provision was repealed, the law regarding U.S. attorney appointments returned to its former state: If someone isn’t nominated and confirmed to the position within 120 days, the federal court in the district gets to make the appointment. The appointment lasts until someone is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The 120 days is up Oct. 12 for acting U.S. attorneys in Seattle and several other jurisdictions where prosecutors were fired.
“I am gratified by the confidence the U.S. District Court judges have in my leadership,” Sullivan said in a written statement. “I am honored to lead what is recognized as one of the finest U.S. attorney’s offices in the country.”
For more than 25 years, Sullivan, a Republican, served as the elected prosecutor in Yakima County. He became McKay’s chief criminal deputy in 2002, overseeing all criminal cases in the Western District of Washington.
No one at the Justice Department has ever given a clear reason as to why McKay was fired. Previously seen as a rising star in the department, he had been tapped to head efforts to improve information sharing among the Justice Department’s law enforcement agencies, and he received a glowing job evaluation before he was told to resign. A few months before the firing, Gonzales’ chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, tried to help McKay win a federal judgeship in Seattle.
In congressional testimony, Gonzales cited McKay’s temperament as well as criticism of budget cuts he made in an interview with a Seattle newspaper as the firing offenses. It was subsequently revealed in Justice Department documents that McKay was first placed on the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired in early 2005 — long before the supposed temperament issues or the interview arose, and at the same time that some conservatives were pressing McKay to bring charges of vote fraud in the razor-thin 2004 governor’s race, which was won by Democrat Chris Gregoire.
McKay said no such charges were warranted.
U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., presented the White House with three names for potential McKay replacements — Sullivan, Seattle attorney Mike Vaska and former Rep. Rick White. The administration asked for further names, and several were provided by former Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. McKay recommended that his first assistant, Mark Bartlett, replace him.
Earlier this week, Gorton said he had not heard from the White House about whether it planned to nominate someone, and he could not understand why the administration would decline to exercise its perogative.
Asked about the looming appointment by the judges, Gorton said, “I hope it will prompt the White House to act.”
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