In my research on executive orders, I
recently discovered an odd one: an order that designates three U.S. Attorneys
to be in the line of succession if a vacancy occurs in the jobs now held by
Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein.
It's Executive Order 13775-- Providing an Order of Succession within the Department of Justice.
Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act
of 1998—an act that President Obama used to fill many offices that were kept
vacant by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s failure to even hold a hearing to confirm a
constitutional officer— President Trump’s Executive Order names (a) United
States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; (b) United States
Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and (c) United States Attorney
for the Western District of Missouri.
All three offices are held by men
with mediocre-to-underwhelming legal pedigrees.
The oddest pick is Tim Garrison
(pictured)—odd because the Western District of Missouri is a legal backwater,
odd because it is notoriously bright-red Trump country, and odd because of
Garrison’s lack of qualifications to become Attorney General or Deputy Attorney
General.
Why is this interesting? Because the
Mueller investigation will resume its public posture next week—and also because
there is a strong expectation that Trump will fire Sessions, setting off what
might look like the “Saturday Night Massacre” by President Richard Nixon (who
fired several attorneys general as flames of the Watergate investigation
flickered in the Oval House).
Here, then, is the next possible
Attorney General, Tim Garrison:
Tim Garrison is the United States
Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Garrison is an eighth generation
Missourian, and grew up in Greene County.
He graduated magna cum laude from Drury University with a degree in
political science, and holds a Master of Public Administration degree and a law
degree from the University of Missouri.
Garrison received his officer’s
commission after graduating from Marine Corps Officer Candidates School in
2003, and served as a military prosecutor.
His active duty military career took him to duty stations on the East
Coast, West Coast, and Iraq.
In 2007, Garrison left active duty
and returned with his family to Missouri, where he served as a federal
prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of
Missouri. Garrison’s efforts focused on
large-scale interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and
violent criminals, but also included firearms offenses, tax evasion, sex
crimes, and illegal immigration. He
served in the district’s Springfield office until his appointment as United
States Attorney.
Since leaving active duty, Garrison
has continued to serve in the Marine Corps Reserves. In 2014, he deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand
Province as the Chief of Operational Law for an eight-nation multinational
force. Garrison is a distinguished
graduate of both the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Warfare School and Command and
Staff College. He currently serves as
Deputy Legal Counsel in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
at the Pentagon. A lieutenant colonel,
Garrison’s personal decorations include the Combat Action Ribbon, the
Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and
the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
Garrison has received awards from the
Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School for excellence in trial
advocacy, and from the Missouri Bar Foundation for his appellate advocacy
before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
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