Thread by @JaneEBoon

The 650 (and counting) federal prosecutors who were signatories to the letter saying Trump would have been prosecuted for obstruction caught my eye, so I downloaded the .csv file and got to work - my MS in Statistics needed a workout.
latimes.com/nation/la-na-p…

The average years of service at the DOJ of this group is 12.56 years. The median is 8.25. These are not rookies. The longest serving person in this group was Jack Kolar, who left the #DOJ after over 41 years, and promptly went to work @GovAcctProj as their director of litigation

These aren't folks with antipathy for Republican Presidents. 63% of them were 1st hired under a Republican President. TWO were actually hired during Eisenhower - Bob Pennoyer, who has since retired as a partner from that lefty law firm, Patterson Belknap, and Richard Medalie.

No surprise, none of the 650 signatories was hired under Trump, although 41 of them served under him.

These are seasoned professionals. 143 had more than 20 years at DOJ. 12 of the 650 signatories had more than 35 years!
There are multiple examples of people who hired in under Nixon, but who retired under Trump.

The signatories are an accomplished, experienced and serious lot, who include @mrbromwich (12yrs DOJ), @renato_mariotti (9yrs), @JillWineBanks (7yrs), @rossi4va (27yrs), @BarbMcQuade (19yrs).

Per @neal_katyal

https://twitter.com/TheBeatWithAri/status/1125527834963992576

@neal_katyal Just checked, and at 11:17 AM (PDT), there are now 693 signatories. When I downloaded the data this morning at 6:56AM (PDT), there were 650. Last night at 10:34PM (PDT), there were 566 signatories in the file. Signatures are still being added at about 10/hour.

@neal_katyal It's 1:32PM (PDT) and there are now 711 signatories. The pace of prosecutor participation hasn't slackened much. But sooner or later, they'll run out of DOJ alums.

@neal_katyal It's 2:21PM (PDT) and we now have 727 signatories. Jack Kolar, with 41 years at the DOJ has been supplanted by Burtis Dougherty, with 42 years at DOJ, as the most senior signatory. Both of these longstanding DOJ lawyers hired in under Ford and retired under Trump.

@neal_katyal The average yrs of DOJ service dropped a bit, from 12.56 to 12.44 years, with the addition of these 77 signatories. Of the 727, 25% of the signatories served an impressive 18.5yrs or more, while 25% served 5yrs or less.

@neal_katyal We have another signatory who 1st worked under Eisenhower - Robert Blakey- who's had an extraordinary career. Apparently he drafted the RICO act; the guy knows organized crime. He's also argued on behalf of anti-abortionists, so he's no liberal softie.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Robert…

@neal_katyal It's 3:12PM PDT (5/8), and we now have 807 signatories. The distribution of years of service of the new additions is mostly unchanged. The average years at DOJ=12.5, the median yrs=8. 25% of the signatories were at DOJ more than 18.5 years, while 25% were there 5 or less.

@neal_katyal We now have a 43 year veteran of DOJ among the signatories -- Frederick Hess, who served under 9 Presidents before retiring, and whose highest DOJ title was "Director Office of Enforcement, Criminal Division."

@neal_katyal We have our FIRST signatory who hired into DOJ while Trump was president -- Gary Leuis. LinkedIn isn't helpful, but it looks like he lasted a year.

@neal_katyal 61% of the 807 signatories started at DOJ under a Republican president. The most common president is Reagan, with 21% of signers. Carter, despite only serving 1 term, is 2nd at 17%. Bush 1 is 3rd, at 14%.
-Guess these are just some old school lawyers who value rule of law?

@neal_katyal A few of the signatories with twitter accounts:
@dougkmiec - the prominent constitutional law professor at that lefty school @pepperdine,
@RosenzweigP, @kokanovich, @Mimirocah1, @Delavegalaw, @SenBlumenthal, @SinesDeborah,
@jostonjustice