Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney Quits

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose, the nation's youngest U.S. attorney and a symbol for many of what went wrong under U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, announced her resignation Monday. She will remain at the Justice Department, in Washington, D.C.

Paulose, 34, resigned after another senior attorney under her resigned, on Friday - the fourth senior attorney who resigned to protest her appointment to or handling of the post.

Paulose decried the attacks upon her as "McCarthyite hysteria," on a conservative blog Monday.

Critics said Paulose, like many Gonzales appointees, got her job through ideology rather than experience or ability - one of the "loyal Bushies" who pushed aside the nine U.S. attorneys who were sacked in the move that led to Gonzales' ouster.

One attorney in St. Paul, who does not work for the Justice Department, told Courthouse News that Paulose "does not prosecute white collar crime," but follows diktat from Washington, with particular interest in prosecuting pornography.

Both of Minnesota's senators - one Republican, one Democrat - issued statements of relief Monday at Paulose's resignation.

It is unclear what relation, if any, Paulose's resignation has to do with the confirmation of the new U.S. Attorney General, Michael Mukasey.

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