As President Barack Obama’s pick for U.S. attorney awaits Senate confirmation as the top federal law enforcement official in Eastern Tennessee, those who’ve held the job agree it is public opinion and the current state of affairs — not politics — that ultimately direct a U.S. attorney’s priorities.
Speaking from his chambers at the federal courthouse in Chattanooga, U.S. District Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice recalled being confirmed as the U.S. attorney for Eastern Tennessee just one month after 9/11.
“Obviously, the overriding No. 1 priority (out of Washington became) counterterrorism,” Judge Mattice said. “But prior to 9/11, counterterrorism was probably not in the top 10 (of priorities) of the Department of Justice.”
The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred while former President George Bush was in office, changed the course of federal law enforcement across the country, Judge Mattice added, and it had nothing to do with partisan politics.
Defense attorney Bill Killian, of Jasper, Tenn., a Democrat, became President Obama’s nominee for U.S. attorney here on May 20.