An announcement by Barr, at 10:00 pm, Friday, June 20 that United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman was resigning.
Not so fast.
Berman replied that he has no intention of resigning until President Trump nominates and the Senate confirms a permanent United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
After service as Acting United States Attorney, Berman was appointed United States Attorney by the unanimous vote of the Judges of the Southern District of New York. Under the Vacancy Reform Act, he holds office until a successor is regularly nominated, confirmed and appointed.
I do not believe either President Trump or Attorney General Barr have the statutory authority to fire him, due to the fact that he is judicially appointed.
The only lawful way Trump can remove him is by getting his own nominee confirmed by the Senate.
Berman should stand his ground. He has every right to that office until Trump gets his nominee confirmed.
On a related note.
I believe all United States Attorneys should be appointed by the Judges of their district, taking that power completely away from the President. This would help depoliticize the individual offices.
Does AG Barr have the legal authority over Berman to fire him at his will if he chooses, without his replacement being confirmed by the Senate?
wikipedia: It is essential to the effectiveness of a U.S Attorney that they are politically impartial in deciding which cases to prosecute and in arguing those cases before judges and juries with diverse views.
When examining the cases that this US Attorney has investigated, has he maintained the standard of being non-political? All of us setting aside our political bias, do we believe this US Attorney has? Even the headline of the OP article suggests the answer is no. If this is true…he should be removed.
This is the whole reason I’ve been pissed for years, observing those in authority politicize institutions that were meant to be above all of that and do what’s right for the country and in a politically neutral manner. That has not been the case now for years and what AG Barr is presently doing behind the scenes is to expose all involved through IG Durham’s investigation and correct this. This must stop people.
it says the attorney general can appoint an interim US attorney who can serve for up to 120 days or until a permanent US attorney is confirmed. if the 120 days expires without a replacement being confirmed. if the 120 days expires the district court can select an attorney to serve until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the senate.
sessions appointed berman. trump never nominated a permanent replacement. after the 120 day expiration the district judges unanimously chose berman under paragraph d of the law. under that paragraph berman serves until his replacement is confirmed
that doesn’t matter anyway. under the clear text of teh law he’s serving under barr cant fire him. because he was appointed by the judges trump has to appoint a new US attorney and once he’s confirmed berman is out but not until that time
Barr has the law on his side. Adios Berman, leave with dignity don’t make a political statement, the lamestreams will feed on your carcass then kick you to the curb.
I know, but it’s early morning so I’m opting for coffee.
The Trump administration appoints him to the position, doesn’t nominate anyone else so after the required time the Judge’s fill the position on a long term basis until Trump fills the vacancy (a nomination isn’t filling the vacancy, the individual has to be confirmed by the Senate) and the Trump administration can’t fire him until that happens.
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.WW, PHS
These last few months did it for me. I loved the economy, Trump was nailing that really well. He cut many regulations. He deserves a lot of credit for the economy before COVID, not the blame after. I can’t even entertain it anymore, there is no way this wasn’t a personally motivated firing. He did this literally hours after Grassley lifted his hold on justice nominees while asking for the reason that the IG was fired. I knew I couldn’t vote for him after he said that George Floyd would be happy because of the job numbers. The president isn’t even hiding it anymore. When you fire people for personal reasons, on multiple occasions without merit, that is corruption and a danger to our democracy.