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U.S. Attorneys, Political Control, and Career Ambition
Synopsis
United States Attorneys (USAs), the chief federal prosecutors in each judicial district, are key in determining how the federal government uses coercive force against its citizens. How much control do national political actors exert over the prosecutorial decisions of USAs? This book investigates this question using a unique dataset of federal criminal prosecutions between 1986 and 2015 that captures both decisions by USAs to file cases as well as the sentences that
result. Utilizing intuitions from principal-agent theory, work on the career ambition of bureaucrats and politicians, and selected case-studies, the authors develop and advance a set of hypotheses about control by the President and Congress. Harnessing variation across time, federal judicial
districts, and five legal issue areas - immigration, narcotics, terrorism, weapons, and white-collar crime - Miller and Curry find that USAs are subject to considerable executive influence in their decision making, supporting findings about the increase of presidential power over the last three decades. In addition, they show that the ability of the President to appoint USAs to higher-level positions within the executive branch or to federal judgeships is an important mechanism of that control.
This investigation sheds light on how the need to be responsive to popularly-elected principals channels the enormous prosecutorial discretion of USAs.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
United States Attorneys * whose offices play pivotal roles in deciding how federal criminal statutes get used and against whom * This is an important work demonstrating that presidents secure significant influence through the implementation of their appointment power. In a comprehensive study, employing principal * agent theory, case studies, and data spanning three decades of district-level activity by U.S. Attorneys over multiple issue areas, the authors also provide insights on the influence of Congress and court decisions. As such, this is a must read book for students and researchers who seek to understand the dynamics of our separation of powers system. It also provides new evidence on the motivations and career objectives of U.S. Attorneys. A solid contribution to the
literature." -Richard W. Waterman, Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky * In U.S. Attorneys, Political Control, and Career Ambition, Miller and Curry provide an intriguing account of these important and highly understudied government actors. They address theoretically interesting dynamics regarding the office that involve fundamental themes of political science scholarship. Professors teaching graduate and undergraduate classes on law and courts should incorporate materials such as this as part of their required readings."
-Jeffrey L. Yates, Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University