Independence of U.S. Attorneys and the Politics of Replacing Them At Will: The New Mexico Version?

There is a new story and details this morning in the New York Times related to the recent replacement of several U.S. Attorneys, apparently not always “for cause.”  This one concerns a New Mexico prosecutor, David Iglesias, who claims he resisted pressure to target (or hurry up and try, before the mid-terms) a Democratic defendant.  The story is Ex-Prosecutor Says Politics Was Motive For Dismissal. 

The previous WSJ Law Blog post (Feb. 7) is linked here.  It portrays the larger trend of such replacements, Paul McNulty’s testimony that most firings were for cause, and his emphasis (like the AG’s) that U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President.  In the Washington Post story that day, Deputy Attorney General Defends Prosecutor Firings, New Mexico’s Iglesias was specifically named as one of the six or seven supposedly fired for “performance-related” issues.  McNulty had acknowledged, by contrast, that one of the firings, in Arkansas, was not for cause.  [Alan Childress]

UPDATE:  New WSJ post, specifically on Iglesias, here.