Meet Jeffrey Taylor, who is suddenly and without much fanfare the most powerful law enforcement official in D.C. Taylor is a 41-year-old lawyer. He was born and raised in small towns in Northern California. He played high school football and got A’s. He went to Stanford University and got a law degree from Harvard. He served as a prosecutor in San Diego, worked for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah — where he helped write the U.S. Patriot Act — and did a stint with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. Most recently, he was counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
Now he’s our top lawman.
What, among his stellar credentials, qualifies Taylor to become the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia? He has experience in fighting terrorists, but can he battle the terrorists who shoot up corners in Anacostia and shake down D.C. residents in Georgetown?
These are some of the questions Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton will have on her mind today when Taylor is scheduled to have his first meeting with our representative in Congress.
“He will be essentially a district attorney,” says Norton, who was not consulted on Taylor’s appointment. “The great majority of his cases will be criminal cases from the District of Columbia.”
I have not met Taylor, who lives with his wife on Capital Hill. I am not passing judgment on him. But it worries me when the top prosecutor in town has never worked our streets.
I wonder how a lawyer who has succeeded among the hard-core Republican elite and specialized in national security matters can direct homicide cases in the lawless lanes of D.C. Our U.S. Attorney’s Office is unique. With 350 lawyers, it is the largest among federal prosecutorial operations. More importantly, it is the only one in the nation that handles both federal and local criminal cases. In every other major city, a local district attorney — elected or appointed — prosecutes local thugs. It is a sad and humbling aspect of Home Rule that we in D.C. have a federal appointee as our D.A.
Taylor succeeds Ken Wainstein, who moves up to run the Justice Department’s new National Security Division. Wainstein was terrific for D.C. Like Taylor, he was a favorite at Main Justice, and he also held a top job at FBI headquarters; but Wainstein also worked as a line prosecutor here in D.C. for years. He locked up murderers. He knew our turf, he put his prosecutors in the community, he sent them after gang-bangers and local hoodlums. Jeff Taylor made his mark as an elite terrorist hunter. He helped create the Patriot Act. A few weeks ago he was Alberto Gonzales’ top counselor on terrorism and national security.
My fear is that he will favor national security prosecutions over keeping D.C. residents secure. When Bill Clinton was president, Eleanor Holmes Norton helped select federal judges and the U.S. Attorney. George W. Bush appoints with little regard for D.C.’s needs.
No wonder Norton believes D.C. should have its own district attorney.
Harry Jaffe has been covering the Washington area since 1985. E-mail him at [email protected].
