Why Did Obama Administration Ask Judge To Increase Gov. Siegelman's Prison Sentence?

[eomer]

221. Yes, they do. US Attorneys can be removed at will by the President.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=usgovinfo&cdn=newsissues&tm=10&f=00&tt=2&bt=8&bts=8&zu=http%3A//www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode28/usc_sec_28_00000541----000-.html

http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=sulr

The rules you refer to are for civil service employees.

And because of a change in 2005 to the Patriot Act, if the Senate refuses to confirm the President's appointment of a successor then the Attorney General can appoint a replacement to serve until that confirmation occurs:

In the course of reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act, 28 U.S.C.
§ 546 was amended to (1) delete the preexisting 120-day time limit that
had applied to the Attorney General's interim appointments (those necessary
to fill vacancies that arise); (2) permit indefinite tenure of interim
appointees so long as the President declines to appoint, or the Senate
fails to approve, a permanent successor; and (3) completely eliminate the
role previously played by the federal district court for the district in
which the vacancy exists.¹⁴ Thus, the Executive power ostensibly may
be used to remove a United States Attorney from a position which is then
filled, not by the President and Congress, but by the Attorney General,
and for a term bounded only by the President's willingness to advance
new appointees.¹⁵ Recognizing that it has been shut out of the process,
both Houses of Congress have responded by proposing bills to restore
the previous checks on the appointment and removal power and to limit
the Attorney General's participation in vacancy-filling procedures.<sup>16[/sup

http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=sulr</sup>

So the President could have fired all US Attorneys in 2009, as was customary for a new President, or he could have fired US Attorney Canary at a later time and there were no legal constraints on his ability to do either. The only limit on this authority of the President is the political ramifications.