Poor Rachel Paulose. When she was appointed United States Attorney in Minnesota last year at the tender age of 33 — making her the youngest USA in the country, despite her modest experience as a prosecutor — it seems nobody told her that her political affiliations might have played a larger role in her appointment than her actual qualifications. The fact that at least three senior attorneys resigned from her office in protest over her leadership did not cause her to question her suitability for the job. Instead, together with today’s news that Ms. Paulose is leaving her USA position and taking up a post at Justice Department headquarters, we learn that she feels victimized by “McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society, a person of faith and/or a conservative (especially a young, conservative woman of color).” It seems the McCarthyite hysteria extended even to Republican Senator Norm Coleman, who welcomed the news of Paulose’s job switch.
It’s not clear whether new Attorney General Michael Mukasey pushed Paulose towards the door of her MInnesotta office, although the timing would suggest he played a role. So, too, with the announcement last week that President Bush had changed his mind and given security clearances to Justice Department attorneys in order to investiate the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program. Both are signs that Mukasey takes the criticism of his predecessor’s handling of the Department seriously.