Las Vegas Sun

February 11, 2012

Currently: 55° | Complete forecast | Log in

Committee votes to give federal prosecutor his old job

By Lisa Mascaro

Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009 | 8:12 a.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Daniel Bogden

WASHINGTON -- With little discussion today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Nevada’s former U.S. Attorney, Daniel Bogden, to have his old job back as the state’s top federal prosecutor.

Bogden’s nomination was recommended in a block with several others and now moves to the Senate for full approval.

Bodgen had been dismissed in late 2006 as part of an unusual purge of U.S. Attorneys nationwide that led to an ongoing congressional investigation into politicization of the Bush administration’s Justice Department and the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

No reason was ever given for Bogden’s firing, and Gonzales testified that he regretted letting the career federal prosecutor go.

With the election of President Barack Obama and the chance for new attorney appointments, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in March recommended Bogden for his old job, because “he felt what happened to Bogden was wrong and he wanted to right that wrong,” a spokesman said at the time.

However, word of Bogden’s return sparked grumbling within Nevada’s legal community, with federal prosecutors and others saying they did not believe his nomination reflected the change they expected from the Obama administration.

Bogden has been working in private practice in Nevada and neither he nor the other nominees appeared before the committee today.

The state’s current U.S. Attorney, Greg Brower, had been appointed by President George W. Bush following Bogden’s dismissal, and is expected to step down.

Discussion: comments so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.

Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story.

No trusted comments have been posted.

Post a comment

Commenting requires registration.

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.

If you would like to submit your comment as a letter to the editor, you may submit it here.

Most Popular

  • Viewed
  • Discussed
  • E-mailed
  • Facebook