Sen. Leahy Sets Hearing for DOJ's No. 2 Position

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) this afternoon set a Dec. 19 confirmation hearing for Mark Filip, the U.S. district judge in Chicago tapped by President George W. Bush to become the next deputy attorney general.

Leahy said he moved to schedule a hearing on Filip immediately upon receiving his personnel questionnaire and application from the White House.

On Tuesday, Leahy criticized White House officials for moving slowly on the nominations and asked that they speed up the process to fill key vacancies at the Department of Justice. The department's leadership collapsed this year because of controversy surrounding the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

The paperwork for two other nominations — that of U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor of Connecticut for associate attorney general and Gregory Katsas, who is being considered for the position of assistant attorney general of the Civil Division — have not been received yet by Leahy's committee.

Comments

[Pedro Ruz Gutierrez]

Thank you for catching the error on Gregory Katsas' nomination. The post text has been revised.

Greg Katsas was nominated as head of the Civil Division, not the Civil Rights Division.