Today Chief U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel swore in John Walsh as the U.S.Attorney for the state of Colorado. The 48-year-old Walsh was an assistant federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and a member of the team that investigated and prosecuted Charles Keating amid a scandal in the savings and loan industry.
Walsh grew up in Colorado and returned to Colorado in 1995, joining a Denver law firm handling antitrust, securities and environmental cases. President Barack Obama nominated him as U.S. Attorney for Colorado in April, and he was confirmed bythe Senate on August 5.
Accodring to the DOJ, the United States Attorneys serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. There are 93 United States Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. United States Attorneys are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, the President of the United States, with the consent of the United States Senate. Each United States Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer of the United States within his or her particular jurisdiction.
United States Attorneys conduct most of the trial work in which the United States is a party. The United States Attorneys have three statutory responsibilities under Title 28, Section 547 of the United States Code:
- the prosecution of criminal cases brought by the Federal government;
- the prosecution and defense of civil cases in which the United States is a party; and
- the collection of debts owed the Federal government which are administratively uncollectible.
Although the distribution of caseload varies between districts, each has every category of cases and handles a mixture of simple and complex litigation. Each United States Attorney exercises wide discretion in the use of his/her resources to further the priorities of the local jurisdictions and needs of their communities.
John Walsh is an outstanding attorney who will continue to provide outstanding service to the people of this state.
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