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The political jockeying around who’ll become the next U.S. District Attorney for our area continues.
President Donald Trump had nominated Tom Leonard for the Michigan Western District job last fall.
Leonard is a Republican, and is a former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. He narrowly lost the 2018 race for Michigan Attorney General to Dana Nessel.
U.S. Attorney nominations must be approved by the U.S. Senate, which has a policy of following the recommendations of the senators from the state in question. Michigan senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow – both Democrats – declined to endorse Leonard.
Leonard’s nomination expired at the end of 2019, so the Trump administration will need to start the process over again.
The Western District includes the Upper Peninsula. It has been without a permanent leader since Democrat Pat Miles resigned at the close of the Barack Obama administration.
