US Attorney General Jessie Liu Withdraws Candidate for Justice Number 3

Jessie K. Liu, the US District Attorney in Columbia who was designated to hold the position of number 3 of the Department of Justice, withdrew from the debate after Republican senators expressed concerns to about his past membership in a group of lawyers who supported the right to abortion and opposed the appointment of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration announced a few weeks ago that it would offer Liu as Deputy Attorney General, where she would oversee the department's extensive civil litigation work. This appointment will not happen, due to his past role in the group of lawyers, officials said Thursday.

The key position of the Ministry of Justice has been difficult to fill by the Trump administration. The previous Assistant Attorney General, confirmed by the Senate, Rachel Brand, left her position more than a year ago, after only a few months of working for a management position at Walmart.

A Liu spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Trump plans to nominate D.C.’s U.S. attorney, Jessie Liu, for Justice Dept.’s No. 3 job]

Attorney General William P. Barr, in a statement Thursday, called Liu "one of the most outstanding and impressive people in the justice department. She has been an outstanding US Attorney and would have been an outstanding Deputy Attorney General. I have no doubt that she would have faithfully implemented my priorities and put forward my rule of law program. "

Barr stated that he appointed her to head the Attorney General's Advisory Committee.

The reasons for the reversal date back more than a decade, when Liu was a member and vice president of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

"Unfortunately, a professional legal organization to which Jessie was affiliated more than 12 years ago has adopted some controversial positions that have led to opposition to her appointment to the Senate Judiciary Committee," said spokeswoman for the Department of Justice. Justice, Kerri Kupec.

The question of her past involvement in the group was not addressed when confirming her candidacy for the position of US lawyer, and Liu remains in this job, officials said.

Liu, 46, was confirmed in August 2017 to head the country's largest law firm, which often oversees politically sensitive investigations of the executive and legislative branches.

Liu was perceived as a stable presence in the office of an American lawyer, where 300 lawyers have unique federal jurisdiction in the nation's capital to prosecute local and federal crimes.

[Rachel Brand, the Justice Department’s No. 3 official, is stepping down]

She has reorganized an office where her recent predecessors have been criticized for managing a lengthy DC public corruption investigation. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) has never been charged, but was removed from office. his duties after the prosecutors had revealed, at a pre-election press conference, that he was their target.

Liu's highest reputation as an American lawyer occurred last month, when his office began prosecuting more defendants in the district for drug and drug crimes in a federal rather than local court. as the city struggled with a 40% increase in homicides.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Liu was a US Deputy Attorney in the District from 2002 to 2006, before joining the National Security Division of the Department of Justice and Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Human Rights Division. the man until 2009.

She has also worked for Morrison & Foerster and Jenner & Block.