http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19857833/DoJ all but 'operating on autopilot'
By Brooke Masters in New York
Updated: 12:43 a.m. ET July 20, 2007
Resignations and the ongoing furoe over allegedly politicised hiring and firing at the US justice department have left so many top positions vacant that the department is all but operating on autopilot, the Financial Times has learnt.
Six top DoJ officials have quit since February, when the sackings of at least nine US attorneys prompted an outcry in Congress. Outside Washington, 23 of the 93 US attorneys' offices, which investigate and try most cases, are devoid of permanent political leadership.
The remaining top officials, including Alberto Gonzales, attorney-general, are the subject of multiple investigations by Congress and the DoJ's inspector-general.
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That has forced lawyers in the field to make decisions with much less input from Washington than in the previous six years, often on contentious topics such as whether to seek the death penalty in states where it is unpopular. The practical result has been to depoliticise many field offices, giving thousands of career DoJ attorneys freedom to resolve cases the way they see fit.
"There's open contempt between the field and main justice
," said one career prosecutor, who like others did not want to be named lest they attract attention from Washington. "The field is fine. We just do what we do. The department is crippled."
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