…and thoroughly pissed off.

Berman issued a blistering public statement.

“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,” Berman said.

“I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I cherish every day that I work with the men and women of this Office to pursue justice without fear or favor — and intend to ensure that this Office’s important cases continue unimpeded.”

Unlike many other U.S. attorneys, Berman is almost uniquely positioned to resist efforts to oust him, at least for a while. U.S. attorneys are typically nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but in Berman’s case he was appointed to the job by the federal court in his district, and there is some legal precedent indicating that only the court, not the Justice Department, can remove him until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

See also this Twitter thread. There has been some speculation from rational sources that Barr essayed this removal in furtherance of an attempt to derail some SDNY investigations into sundry administration criminality. Interesting, too, that Lady Lindsey appears to be hedging (their*) bets.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled on Saturday that he will not move forward with a nomination for the U.S. attorney for Manhattan without sign off from two Democratic senators.

Graham said he would wait to receive a "blue slip" — a sheet of paper that indicates if a home-state senator supports a nomination — before moving forward with a new nominee to be the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

“As to processing U.S. Attorney nominations, it has always been the policy of the Judiciary Committee to receive blue slips from the home state senators before proceeding to the nomination," Graham said in a statement. “As chairman, I have honored that policy and will continue to do so."

Rat, noting that the waves appear to be lapping much closer to the gunwales than hitherto: “Is that a rope I see, and a pier?”

I do believe that this story may have legs. But I’ve been disappointed before. Hell, before the middle of next month, the story will have been pushed off the front pages by the inexplicable surge of covid19 cases in Oklahoma.

cordially,

*Note that I am generously extending a gender-neutral pronoun to Senator Huckleberry Closetcase, although I would really prefer “it” to “their,” as in “it rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.”