In a 94-2 vote, the Senate today voted to “end the Bush administration’s ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ firing of eight federal prosecutors.” The bill will cancel “a Justice Department-authored provision in the Patriot Act that had allowed the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation.”
UPDATE: Gonzales was supposed to appear before a House committee on Thursday to discuss the Justice Department budget and other issues not related to the U.S. Attorney purge. He just canceled. (Via Atrios)
UPDATE II: House Judiciary Committee to meet tomorrow to authorize subpoenas against Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, Gonzales’ ex-chief of staff Kyle Sampson, Rove deputy Scott Jennings, and others.
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