Let me hasten to add that the second big job doesn’t interfere with Jones doing the first one. But Washington sources reliably inform me that once B. Todd is confirmed and sworn in as U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Attorney General Eric Holder will name Jones as chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC).
This is a committee that serves as a liaison between U.S. attorneys from around the country and the Justice Department in Washington. The post, while not famous nor visible to the general public, is a serious and influential job that can have an impact on both the setting of national law enforcement policy and on the implementation of that policy by the U.S. attorneys in the 50 states.
The AGAC appointment comes from Attorney General Eric Holder and further underscores the strong relationship between Holder and Jones that developed in the late Clinton period, when Jones previously served as Minnesota’s U.S. attorney and Holder was deputy attorney general. Jones served on the AGAC then and chaired it during the last months of the Clinton Administration.
Jones, currently a partner with the Mpls-based Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi firm, was recommended for a second stint as U.S. attorney by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, nominated by President Obama and the nomination has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. It awaits only a vote by the full U.S. Senate, a prospect that has generated no controversy.
