Brenda Morris is hardly a W appointee, but she *was* promoted during the Clinton reign…

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Brenda Morris

Adjunct Professor of Law; Principal Deputy Chief, Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice
B.S., University of Southern California; J.D., Howard University

Address:
600 New Jersey Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
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Biography

B.S., University of Southern California; J.D., Howard University. Brenda Morris joined the Public Integrity Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice in September 1991. After working for twelve years as a Trial Attorney with the Public Integrity Section, she was promoted in March 2004 to Deputy Chief for Litigation. In August 2006, Professor Morris was promoted to the position of Principal Deputy Chief. Her staff consists of 30 attorneys and 11 support staff. The Public Integrity Section is a distinctive unit within the Criminal Division which is responsible for the nationwide investigations and prosecutions of corrupt federal employees. As a Trial Attorney, Professor Morris investigated white-collar cases ranging from federal conflict of interest crimes to conspiracy to commit bribery of public officials. Professor Morris has conducted federal trials across the country which ranged from perjury committed by a Border Patrol Agent in Tucson, Arizona, to witness tampering and obstruction of justice in Key West, Florida. As Deputy Chief for Litigation, Professor Morris was responsible for the daily supervision of the Section’s attorneys on all aspects of their complex litigations and trials. As Principal Deputy Chief, Professor Morris continues to supervise all cases in the Section and she spearheads investigations ranging from the Abramoff corruption scandal to corruption matters involving the theft of millions of dollars meant for the Iraqi reconstruction. Professor Morris is a career prosecutor who began as a Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorneys Office under Robert Morgenthau. Her experience in New York proved to be fertile training ground where Professor Morris honed her skills as a trial attorney by successfully prosecuting hundreds of street crimes and winning over forty trial victories. As part of her federal service, Professor Morris has been selected to instruct on white-collar statutes, including conflict of interest, and investigative techniques to international audiences consisting of prosecutors and law enforcement in Katmandu, Nepal; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Bucharest, Romania. In April 2007, Professor Morris was chosen to represent the Department of Justice at the Global Forum V held in Johnanasburg, South Africa. Professor Morris has also instructed other federal prosecutors and federal agents on the federal criminal conflict of interest laws at various United States Attorneys Offices, Offices of Inspector General Offices, as well as the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia. Professor Morris is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center located in Washington, DC, currently teaching a course on public corruption. Professor Morris is a native Washingtonian who received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, and her Juris Doctorate from Howard University Law School.

Gee, no bias here. Appears that one of the (many) documents withheld has the Government’s main witness stating that Stevens (in his opinion) would have paid for the “bribe” if he’d ever been billed for it and that Stevens had asked for the bill. And no showing or even a claim by the DOJ that any benefit was received from Stevens as a result of the work done.
And it appears that Matt Welch joined the DOJ in the ’90′s. Hardly a “Bush” appointee. We’ll just ignore the timing of the indictment-in violation of DOJ rules.
Stevens may well be “corrupt”, that isn’t the point.

Josh Marshall has the details over at TPM, q.v.

Not a good entry on the old resume.

As much as I dislike Mr. Stevens, even he deserves a new trial. The judge appears to have given the Justice Department too much unwarranted deference during the trial.

The sanctions against the prosecutors must be severe enough to serve as a deterrent and a warning to other government attorneys that abusing judicial deference—or respect—is intolerable.

Get ‘em, Judge Sullivan! Next time, let them sit in the pokey until someone brings you what you ordered them to produce.