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La. senator to stop blocking Obama nominees

By Melinda Deslatte / Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter said Monday he'll stop delaying President Barack Obama's nominees to be federal prosecutors and judges in Louisiana.

Vitter, a Republican, had blocked Senate confirmation of the nominees from his home state because he wanted assurances the White House wouldn't get rid of U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, a holdover Bush administration appointee in the New Orleans-based Eastern District.

Vitter said Monday that he's confident Letten will stay because U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder named him to a committee that advises the attorney general on policy, management and operational issues. Letten's appointment to that committee will expire in 2011.

"This prestigious appointment makes it crystal clear that Jim isn't going anywhere except on regular trips to Washington to personally advise the attorney general," Vitter said in a statement. He said he will now remove his objections to the other nominees.

Letten's office has vigorously investigated corruption cases in the New Orleans area, successfully prosecuting former Gov. Edwin Edwards. More recently, his office has brought a criminal case against four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with the phones at Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's district office in New Orleans.

Landrieu also supported Letten's bid to keep his job. She has said she had a pledge from the Obama administration that Letten, a Republican, would stay in the position he has held since 2001.

Vitter's office said the senator will sign off this week on the three nominations he was holding up: Stephanie Finley for the U.S. attorney's post in the Western District, which includes Lafayette and Shreveport; Brian Jackson for a vacant federal judgeship in the Middle District, which includes Baton Rouge; and Genevieve Lynn May for the U.S. marshal's job in New Orleans. Jackson's nomination has been blocked for months.

Landrieu recommended all the nominees.

Under Senate rules, senators in the home states of federal prosecutors, judges and marshals must return "blue slips" allowing nominees to proceed to confirmation hearings. Vitter had refused to sign the blue slips for Obama's nominations in Louisiana. Recommendations for other federal positions have been made, and Vitter had been expected to delay those nominations as well until Letten's job status was certain.