The rumor bill

IT’S NEVER A good idea to write legislation in response to a rumor, yet that’s exactly what Sen. Dianne Feinstein appears to have done in the case of Carol Lam. Lam is the U.S. attorney in San Diego who oversaw the prosecution of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to receiving $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors and evading more than $1 million in taxes. Lam is one of half a dozen U.S. attorneys, including one in San Francisco, who are stepping down.

Feinstein at least acknowledges that she is responding to a rumor that Lam is being forced out not because of policy or personality differences with her superiors but because she is preparing other cases that might ruffle influential feathers. Lam’s office has been investigating a politically connected defense contractor who was described as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Cunningham case.

This conspiracy theory has another strand: a suddenly controversial provision in the Patriot Act that allows the attorney general to name an acting U.S. attorney who can serve until the Senate confirms a new nominee. Feinstein has proposed a bill that would restore the previous arrangement, in which local federal judges named U.S. attorneys on an interim basis.

The Justice Department persuasively argues that it hasn’t abused its new authority to bypass the usual Senate confirmation process. Even after they are confirmed by the Senate, U.S. attorneys still serve at the president’s pleasure, and they can be removed if they are underperforming or if their priorities conflict with the administration’s.

A further problem with the conspiracy theory is that it is not easy, as even Watergate demonstrated, for an administration to stymie a criminal investigation. If the Bush administration has been scheming to prevent the prosecution of prominent Republicans, it has been remarkably unsuccessful: Just ask Cunningham, former Rep. Bob Ney or I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Where politics undeniably plays a role -- and not just in this administration -- is in the selection of U.S. attorneys, who often are prominent members of the president’s party. Yet precisely because these positions are political plums, professionals in the Justice Department and the FBI traditionally exert huge influence in prosecution decisions. Those same professionals are likely to blow the whistle on improper interference.

Feinstein and other senators certainly should keep their ears pricked for any such alarm. They also should press Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales to explain the personnel changes (in closed session if necessary) and to abide by his commitment to the Judiciary Committee that the names of new U.S. attorneys be submitted expeditiously to the Senate. But cries of a conspiracy are premature, and so is Feinstein’s legislation.