June 9, 2005: CONGRESSWOMAN ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON ON THE NOMINATION OF KENNETH WAINSTEIN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2005

STATEMENT OF CONGRESSWOMAN ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON ON THE NOMINATION OF KENNETH WAINSTEIN TO BEU.S.ATTORNEY FOR THEDISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Washington, D.C.—The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a statement from Norton on the Bush Administration’s permanent nomination of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia :

“Our best U.S. attorneys have been D.C. residents whose deep understanding of our local justice system has been informed by their personal decision to live where they serve. I have had a good relationship with Kenneth Wainstein, but if he is to be named, in effect, the district attorney for the District of Columbia, I would want to look more closely and at some detail at his approach to civil and criminal matters, for example, the attack on our gun safety laws which has outraged virtually every D.C. resident and every elected official. I will be speaking with Mr. Wainstein again, and I also will be speaking with my good friends, Judiciary Committee Chair Orrin Hatch and Ranking Member Pat Leahy, as I did when prior U.S. attorneys were nominated.”


During the Clinton Administration, Norton had judicial courtesy on U.S. attorneys, federal court judges and U.S. marshals.