The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Norton Introduces Bill to Elect D.C. Prosecutor

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has yet again introduced legislation to create an elected prosecutor in the District of Columbia.

The bill, HR 4009, would create a local district attorney capable of conducting criminal prosecutions currently handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. It would also give the official the power “to perform civil enforcement and other legal functions as provided by local law.”

“There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to our residents, or on which we have less say, than the prosecution of local crimes here,” Norton said in a statement introducing the legislation Tuesday. “A U.S. Attorney has no business in the local criminal affairs of a local jurisdiction. This bill simply would make the District's prosecutor accountable to the people by electing him or her, as elsewhere in the nation.”

Norton introduced similar bills in 2003, 2006 and 2007. The 2007 bill petered out after making it to a hearing before House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform. A Norton spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

In January, at-large D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, chair of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, introduced a bill that would have made the D.C. Attorney General an elected position. His bill, still in committee, would not have given the office prosecutorial power.

“The basic concept of having local control over local prosecutions is a very good and long overdue proposal,” Mendelson said of the Norton legislation.

Local officials have been advocating for an elected prosecutor for over a decade, but have failed to get the necessary Congressional approval. Councilmember at-large David Catania first introduced a bill that would have created one in 1998. In a statement, Norton’s office noted that District residents approved the creation of an elected prosecutor in a 2002 referendum.

In Robert Wone Case, Defense Lawyers Lodge Attack on Indictment

The defense lawyers in the Robert Wone case are urging a D.C. Superior Court judge to dismiss obstruction and conspiracy charges, saying the government's evidence doesn’t support the allegations.

Victor Zaborsky, Dylan Ward and former Arent Fox partner Joseph Price were indicted in January on obstruction, conspiracy and evidence tampering charges tied to the fatal stabbing of Wone in August 2006. None of the men, who lived together in Northwest Washington, are charged with murder.

The defendants’ lawyers—including Robert Spagnoletti, Bernie Grimm and Thomas Connolly—filed a motion to dismiss the obstruction and conspiracy charges Thursday. The government is planning to respond by December, assistant U.S. attorney Glenn Kirschner said at a status conference this afternoon. (Click here for a copy of the motion.)

The defense argument challenging the obstruction charge says the government has failed to show there was a necessary “official proceeding” at the time the defendants were alleged to have impeded D.C. police. The investigation began after Zaborsky’s phone call to police. Anything before that call, the defense lawyers say, cannot constitute obstruction.

Deputy White House Counsel to Leave for Anti-Poverty Job

Cassandra Butts is leaving her job as a deputy in the White House Counsel's Office to become a senior adviser to a federal agency fighting global poverty.

It's among the most high-level departures this year from the office that provides legal advice to President Barack Obama, and it comes a month after Butts' boss, White House Counsel Gregory Craig, tamped down media rumors that he was about to leave.

Butts, a classmate of Obama’s from Harvard Law School, will become a senior adviser at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Congress and President George W. Bush created the corporation in 2003 to help countries reduce poverty and grow their economies.

In a statement, Obama called Butts a “dear friend and trusted colleague.”

“Cassandra brings a depth of experience and true passion for justice that will be invaluable to [the corporation’s] success in the future,” Obama said. “I am grateful for Cassandra’s tireless service in this administration and look forward to continuing to work with her in the years ahead.”

Pressed on the reasons for her move, a White House spokesman said it reflects the priority Obama is placing on the global fight against poverty. He declined to make Butts available for an interview.

Butts was general counsel to the presidential transition that began a year ago. Previously, she was a senior vice president at the liberal Center for American Progress and a top aide to then-presidential candidate and House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.). She has also been an assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

Gephardt, in a brief interview today, praised Butts’ experience and intelligence. He said her new position, while not in the White House, likely has its own advantages. “I’m sure there are a lot of important things that go on there,” he said, referring to the White House Counsel’s Office, “but this gives her kind of a portfolio of her own.”

State Department Official Worked on Behalf of Pakistan Immediately Before Taking Job

Newly filed lobbying disclosure documents show that Robin Raphel, the State Department's nonmilitary aid coordinator for Pakistan, attended meetings to help Pakistan craft lobbying strategy less than a week before her government appointment was publicly announced.

Raphel worked for lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates until July 31; her State Department job was announced Aug. 5. Cassidy has represented Pakistan since May. Cassidy’s latest disclosure filings, submitted to the Justice Department Oct. 30, show Raphel attended more than 40 meetings on Pakistan’s behalf in the two months before she left at places including the State Department, and Capitol Hill, though it doesn't specify who she met with.

The State Department and the White House have not responded to questions about Raphel's appointment, including queries this week about whether the State Department knew she was working on Pakistan's behalf immediately before taking her new job.

The Cassidy report also shows Raphel's termination date as Sept. 1, 2009, which would mean her job at the State Department overlapped with her job at Cassidy by about a month. On Thursday, Cassidy spokesman Tom Alexander said the termination date on the report was incorrect, and Cassidy would file an amended report with the Justice Department showing Raphel's last day was July 31.

Alexander stresses that Raphel “was not engaging in political or advocacy activities on behalf of our client and was instead assisting in a very limited and brief strategy development and information gathering phase.” In other words, she wasn't lobbying - just helping Cassidy craft a lobbying strategy on Pakistan's behalf.

Raphel led work on a $1.2 million-a-year lobbying contract for Pakistan that Cassidy briefly held in 2007, so her new job already appeared to violate a ban on federal appointees participating in matters involving former clients or employers. Read an earlier National Law Journal story about the matter here. The Obama administration has been extremely vocal about its conflict of interest policies, and repeatedly promised to limit the influence lobbyists have in Washington.

In August, a State Department spokesman said Raphel will be a temporary worker who can only work 130 days out of 365, and because of that, was subject to different conflict of interest requirements, though he did not provide specific information about what those requirements were.

JNC Releases List of Judgeship Applicants

The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission has released the names of the 28 contenders applying to take the place of retiring Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin.

The list includes two lawyers whose names were forwarded to former President George W. Bush in Dec. 2008 as potential replacements for Senior Judge Rufus G. King III: Teresa Howie, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and Maria Raffinan, a supervising attorney in the D.C. Public Defender Service. Bush eventually nominated Stuart Nash, an associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department and former D.C. prosecutor. Nash later withdrew his nomination. Obama eventually nominated Marisa Demeo , a Superior Court magistrate judge, for the spot.

The list also includes six Superior Court magistrate judges and three administrative law judges from the D.C. Office of Administrative hearings. See the complete list below. The commission is seeking public comment on the applicants through Jan. 5. See the full list after the jump:

DOJ Pushes 'Comprehensive Approach' to Discovery Reform

Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia says he's "radicalized" when it comes to prosecution disclosure obligations. He is a proponent of a federal rule that clearly spells out the government's obligation to turn over favorable evidence to defense lawyers.

"We are preaching the gospel. We are hoping, some of us, there will be a change in the federal rules," Friedman said Thursday evening during a panel discussion among defense lawyers, prosecutors and academics who addressed discovery obligations at the American Bar Association’s office in downtown Washington.

Friedman, long a proponent of a rule change, was the lone judge on the panel last night. His call for an amendment to the federal rules of criminal procedure was backed up by several defense lawyers, including Williams & Connolly partner Robert Cary and Zuckerman Spaeder partner Morris "Sandy" Weinberg Jr., who moderated the 90-minute discussion.

Friedman called himself a “frustrated judge”--one among others in the judiciary who are no longer playing largely silent, inactive roles in stressing prosecution obligations. Judge Emmet Sullivan, a colleague of Friedman's, earlier this year recommended a Judicial Conference committee take up debate once more on amending Rule 16 of criminal procedure. (Click here for a National Law Journal article about the discussion at a committee meeting last month in Seattle.)

To address the concern in the judiciary, the Justice Department is implementing a mandatory annual training program for prosecutors to ensure government lawyers follow their obligations, said the Justice Department’s Gary Grindler, the deputy assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division. The department is also creating a position at Main Justice to oversee discovery reform. But the department is not willing to accept an overhaul to the criminal rules that would put a greater burden on prosecutors to turn over favorable information to defense lawyers.

Senate Confirms Two DOJ Nominees

The Senate late Thursday signed off on two pending nominees for top positions in the U.S. Justice Department.

Ignacia Moreno, a former environmental counsel at General Electric, was confirmed 93-0 as assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. She was principal counsel in the division during the Clinton administration and won the backing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 24.

Laurie Robinson was confirmed without a formal vote as assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs, which provides grants to states and localities. She held the same position during the Clinton administration and has since been in the Criminology Department at the University of Pennsylvania. The Judiciary Committee endorsed her Oct. 22.

That leaves three high-level Justice Department nominees awaiting votes by the full Senate: Dawn Johnsen for the Office of Legal Counsel, Mary Smith for the Tax Division, and Christopher Schroeder for the Office of Legal Policy.

Also winning confirmation Thursday without opposition were two D.C. labor lawyers nominated for seats on the Merit Systems Protection Board, which rules on employment disputes for much of the federal workforce. Susan Grundmann, general counsel since 2002 to the National Federal of Federal Employees, will be chairwoman. Anne Wagner, general counsel of the Personnel Appeals Board of the Government Accountability Office, will be vice chairwoman.

UPDATE (11:16 a.m.): A statement from Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. on Moreno's confirmation: "Reinvigorating the traditional missions of the Justice Department, including protecting our nation’s environment, has been one of my top priorities since taking office. Ignacia is a talented and experienced attorney who will bring strong leadership to this important division. I hope for rapid consideration of the other Justice Department nominees pending before the Senate."

The Morning Wrap

Jobless: The U.S. unemployment rate reached 10.2% last month, topping the 10% mark for the first time in 26 years. See Market Watch for more of the numbers breakdown.

Fort Hood: An Army doctor is in custody after going on a violent rampage at Fort Hood in Texas. Investigators say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 13 people and injured another 28 at the military post. He is in stable condition at a hospital after being gunned down by police at the scene. The New York Times has more.

A Sinking Galleon: Two lawyers were among the people arrested Thursday in the widening insider trading investigation involving hedge fund Galleon Management, The New York Law Journal reports.

On Second Thought: A law professor has withdrawn his lawsuit against legal blog Above the Law, writes The National Law Journal's Karen Sloan. University of Miami School of Law professor Donald Marvin Jones dropped his case on Wednesday. He had accused the site of portraying him in a false light after it ran a series of posts on his arrest for allegedly trying to solicit an undercover police officer for sex. The charges were later dropped and his arrest record was expunged.