US Attorney Firings Update: Rachel Paulose

The two major leftist political blogs, DailyKos and Talking Points Memo here, and here, have posts on the developing story about the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota, Rachel Paulose, who was appointed before all the major firings began.

When Ms. Paulose took office, she apparently made sure that she alienated all of the other Assistant U.S. Attorneys around her. In just a few short months, all of the Assistant U.S. Attorneys in her office demoted themselves to regular staff attorney positions. In doing so, they reduced their own pay and may have sacrificed their future careers.

By the accounts I have read, it appears that Ms. Paulose is an ideologue. She is a member of the Federalist Society. (Regardless of what the name implies, it is a group dedicated to using the courts to implement neo-conservative political philosophy through the judicial system.) She is also reported to spout Bible verses on a regular basis. Her management style is said to be "dictatorial." From the TPM article linked above:

The move might have come from a disagreement in the direction of the office, but is also "indicative of how the U.S. Department of Justice is acting now," another source said.

"These are career prosecutors who wouldn't do it without a reasonable basis," the source said. "If these folks took this action en masse and all of them are well respected career prosecutors, they wouldn't do so lightly."

It appears the cancer is spreading.