It has been a difficult, and at times demoralizing, year for the Department of Justice. But the BLT, like any other news organization that fastens to scandal, knows that the patches of bad tend to overshadow the scads of good work by the nation's federal law enforcers. Hence the Attorney General's Annual Awards Ceremony.
Yesterday's event at DAR Constitution Hall, with its dialed-up pageantry, honored prosecutors, agents, staff, and managers whose work shone among the approximately 104,000 Justice Department employees.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who had planned to emcee the ceremony but left early to attend a meeting, set the tone in his opening remarks: "There is a lot of skepticism, even cynicism, in America today about government and its ability to get things done, and to get them done well. Over the last few years, this department has endured its share of critical attention. As a result, I have been asked many times about morale at the department and about how we are going to restore the public's confidence in DOJ. My answer has never wavered: to a person, the men and women who were here when I arrived have worked hard to help me succeed and have kept their jobs on behalf of the American people."
Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip presented the awards in Mukasey's stead. Click here for Mukasey's full remarks and click here for a copy of the program, which names all the award winners.
A few highlights after the jump...
- Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis was given the Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism And Exemplary Integrity. (He hugged everyone in sight, as he barreled across the stage to accept the award. Many in attendance gave him a standing ovation.)
- John Marshall Awards, the department's highest honor for attorneys, went to Assistant Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart (a member of Legal Times' distinguished Supreme Court review panel this year) for his appeals work; and to Brian Benczkowski, currently the attorney general's chief of staff, for his work as the principal deputy assistant attorney in the
Office of Legal CounselOffice of Legislative Affairs (Check Page 39 for the other Marshall award winners.) - Special Agent Douglas Moore, of the St. Paul Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,took away the Mary C. Lawton Lifetime Service Award, for a 31-year career that has included 627 fire scenes and more than 2,800 training hours.
- The Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service, the second-highest award for employee performance, went to members of the Civil Division's appellate staff and the Office of the Solicitor General -- see Page 11 -- for their "extraordinary efforts to defend the Military Commissions Act and the Detainee Treatment Act."
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