Opinion: You can’t not hire me, I quit

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J. Timothy Griffin, a former Karl Rove aide serving temporarily as the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., has withdrawn as a candidate for a presidential appointment for that post. By installing Griffin in Little Rock, a move that required ousting the incumbent, the Justice Department gave the politicization of U.S. attorney selection (a reality in all administrations) a bad name.

In falling on his sword, Griffin has deprived Democrats of the best talking point for their argument that Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were ratcheting up the influence of politics in the administration of justice. What’s left is the unsupported allegation that a handful of U.S. attorneys dismissed by Bush recently were canned as part of a cover-up.

That conspiracy theory was deflated last week when Carol Lam, the outgoing U.S. attorney in San Diego, announced the indictment of former CIA official ‘Dusty’ Foggo and defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes. The Justice Department also refuted the related theory that it was exploiting a change in the way interim U.S. attorneys are appointed to avoid sending nominations to the Senate.

What’s left of this brouhaha is a proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others to repeal a provision in the Patriot Act that allows the Justice Department to name interim U.S. attorneys who can serve indefinitely until the president nominates and the Senate confirms a replacement. (Griffin has been serving under that provision.) The legislation would empower the chief judge of the local federal court to choose an acting U.S. attorney if the president didn’t act within 120 days.

U.S. attorneys’ jobs always have been political plums, but the Bushies pushed the envelope at least in the Arkansas case. It can atone for its clumsiness by expediting the nomination of new prosecutors for Little Rock, San Diego and elsewhere. Under the separation of powers, U.S. attorneys should be appointed by the president, not a judge. But if Bush doesn’t want to lose that power he should use it.