Filibustering Staff

Manuel Miranda, who had served as a Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, claims that the Senate Democrats have moved from filibustering judicial nominees to blocking GOP staff from obtaining new and better work. Miranda has sent a sworn affidavit to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia accusing Senate Democrats of threatening to hold up legislation important to clients of McDermott, Will & Emery, if that firm hired him. Miranda argues that these threats violate federal extortion statutes.

Miranda, you may recall, resigned his staff post under pressure from Majority Leader Bill Frist’s office last year after an investigation concluded that he had read documents meant for Senate Democrats. The documents were stored on a computer server that was shared by both Republicans and Democrats. The memoranda detailed meetings between liberal interest groups and staff for Senators Patrick Leahy, Ted Kennedy and Dick Durbin.

Interestingly enough, apparently unmoved by the flap, the Heritage Foundation was willing to take Miranda on as a Visiting Fellow on Legal Policy. Miranda’s first day of work there was yesterday.