Were the wrong U.S. attorneys fired?

On Dec. 20, 2006, former assistant United States attorney Deirdra Brown-Fleming won a partial victory in the case against her inappropriate termination. The EEO Office of Federal Operations handed down a decision that day reprimanding Brown-Fleming’s former boss, U.S. attorney Alice Martin of the Northern District of Alabama, for violations of the Civil Rights Act.

It was a bad few weeks all around for U.S. attorneys.

Also on Dec. 20, U.S. attorney Bud Cummins of Arkansas left office to give up his seat for Tim Griffin, Karl Rove’s former aide. Cummins’ dismissal was just one of many that month. The firing of at least eight U.S. attorneys snowballed into allegations of political misconduct by the Dept. of Justice. The Justice Department initially claimed the firings were performance-related, though the prosecutors’ excellent records would suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile, in spite of the findings that racism existed in her office, Alice Martin remained—and still remains— in her role as federal prosecutor. On top of that, the Dept. of Justice is currently investigating allegations that Martin perjured herself during her sworn testimony regarding Brown-Fleming’s termination.

Brown-Fleming, the first African-American female to work in the Huntsville Branch of Northern Alabama’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, claims she experienced extreme harassment from her colleagues there; they punctured the tire of her car and constantly referred to her as “black bitch,” among other things, she says. After complaining about her colleagues in April 2002, Brown-Fleming was fired the next month because she was “not a team player.”

According to Brown-Fleming, Martin testified that she fired her before hearing about the allegations of racism in the office; this contradicts documentary evidence Brown-Fleming said she acquired under the Freedom of Information Act, such as a letter addressed to Martin marked “personal and confidential” from the EEOC regarding Brown-Fleming’s complaints. The Dept. of Justice began its investigation in 2004 into Brown-Fleming’s belief that Martin allegedly committed perjury, but it was held in abeyance until the EEOC completed its investigation into Brown-Fleming’s claims of racism.

Brown-Fleming said she also contacted Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions about the EEOC case; he wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales relating Brown-Fleming’s complaints. The Dept. of Justice responded Brown-Fleming should contact the Office of Professional Responsibility with her complaints.

The EEOC, when it handed down its decision, ordered the Dept. of Justice to pay Brown-Fleming more than $800,000 in back pay, as well as front pay, if she chooses not to be reinstated at the U.S. attorney’s office. The Dept. of Justice sent Brown-Fleming a letter on April 17 stating it was resuming its investigation of her belief that Martin perjured herself.

The fact that a federal body confirmed that Brown-Fleming’s firing was retaliatory, along with the pending investigation into whether Martin committed perjury, certainly cannot be helping Martin in her capacity as a U.S. attorney. Rather than targeting other well-accomplished prosecutors, perhaps the Justice Department could have saved itself a lot of trouble by reprimanding-- or at the very least investigating in a timely manner-- prosecutors who were already causing a little bit of controversy.