A promotion for D.C.’s top prosecutor could be a casualty of the ongoing battle over human rights standards for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Ken Wainstein, the U.S. attorney for the District, has been nominated to head up the Justice Department’s anti-terrorism unit. His nomination is unopposed, but Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., says he wants the White House to hand over more information on the goings-on at Guantanamo.
Wainstein was nominated as the first-ever anti-terrorism lawyer at the Justice Department as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act last year. As a result, he must be confirmed by the Senate and can’t be placed in his seat through a recess nomination.
Levin said he wants details from reports made by FBI agents in Cuba who may have seen the prisoners there being tortured. By Senate tradition, any one senator can stall a confirmation vote.
Republicans say that Levin is blocking the nomination of a good public servant to an important post for cheap political reasons. Levin’s spokeswoman has been quoted as saying that the White House hasn’t handed over information relevant to Wainstein’s nomination either.
Wainstein remains on the job in D.C. His spokesman refused comment Thursday.
