It’s been 1,713 days since the U.S. Attorney’s office for Northern Ohio -- overseeing federal justice in half the state -- had a confirmed leader.
That’s more than 4 1/2 years, ever since Justin Herdman stepped down Jan. 8, 2021 , to give incoming President Joe Biden the chance to name a new U.S. Attorney.
It’s time to end the needless tit-for-tat blockades to noncontroversial U.S. Attorney nominations that have kept the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s office either leaderless or without confirmed leadership for all that time.
Especially since a gifted prosecutor, David Toepfer, now the appointee holding the office, has been nominated to take the job -- and last week won support from the Senate Judiciary Committee to move his nomination to the Senate floor.
But there it may stall unless