Dummermuth to Finally Face Senate Confirmation

After nearly a year, it is now likely that Matt Michael Dummermuth, interim U.S. attorney for the northern district of Iowa and a native of Elgin, will face U.S. Senate confirmation hearings. The White House news service has reported that Dummermuth’s official nomination for the position was sent to the Senate in December.

Dummermuth’s appointment by President George W. Bush to replace retiring Charles W. Larson, Sr., came after a 2006 recommendation by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, a lawmaker for whom Dummermuth previously interned. The appointment also followed the retirement of then-First Assistant U.S. Attorney Judi Whetstine, who was initially appointed as acting U.S. attorney for the district. Dummermuth was sworn in Jan. 30, 2007.

Nomination hearings before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary have yet to be scheduled since, according to staff reports, certain paperwork has not yet been submitted. Among the items missing are “blue slips,” forms from Iowa’s senators that provide support of the nomination. Grassley’s press office indicated his blue slip will be delivered Friday. A spokeswoman in Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin’s office said Harkin is currently reviewing information and remains unsure if he will support the nomination.

Dummermuth, who at 34 is one of the youngest of the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys, has spent the past year stacking up a wealth of drug and gun convictions. He has spoken to several area school districts on the topic of Internet predators, an issue he has made into a focus of his tenure. His on-the-job training, however, hasn’t necessarily spared him being soiled by the ongoing U.S. attorney appointment controversy.

The controversy stems from the 2005 reauthorization of the Patriot Act, legislation that enabled the president — through the office of the attorney general — to replace U.S. attorneys who had retired or resigned with long-term appointees that did not need to undergo confirmation by the Senate. Previously, such appointees could only serve for 120 days without confirmation. After that time period elapsed, district courts could extend the appointment or would make any necessary subsequent appointments until the Senate confirmed a nominee. The changes, however, allowed the appointees to serve indefinitely. As reauthorized, the Patriot Act effectively circumvented constitutionally-granted senatorial oversight of executive appointees.

Although the oversight loophole was closed in June 2007 when the clause within the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization was rescinded, several U.S. attorneys were already serving in indefinite interim roles. Dummermuth was one of them, and his appointment came under public scrutiny.

There are unique differences between U.S. Attorneys who ended up in the direct fire of the controversy and Dummermuth, who primarily remained on the fringes. First, Dummermuth replaced Larson, an older public servant whose retirement was not terribly surprising. While Whetstine’s subsequent retirement after being named the acting U.S. Attorney for the northern district is suspect, those close to her have said the move was not politically prompted.

Dummermuth’s resume includes a two-year stint at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as well as a one-year position in the U.S. attorney’s office in the eastern district of Virginia. He served in private practice in Cedar Rapids and worked with Judge David Hansen of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to his diploma from Iowa State, Dummermuth graduated from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass.

There are, however, direct links between Dummermuth and the Bush administration. In addition to small campaign contributions, Dummermuth was one of three field staff for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign in Iowa during 2000. He directed campaign activities in the eastern portion of the state while Scott Shuman worked central and Grant Young worked western Iowa. The three answered directly to political director Craig Schoenfeld.

In addition, Dummermuth’s wife, Rebecca, previously served in the Bush administration’s Department of Labor as special assistant to the solicitor (then Eugene Scalia). She also worked in the White House, serving as associate director for legal affairs in the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. In that capacity, she often served as a spokeswoman and advocate for faith-based initiatives. In a 2004 article in the Hawaii-Reporter, Rebecca was reported as explaining the constitutional guidelines of such funding and same-faith hiring practices. The topic was not new to Rebecca, who had previously served as a legal counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public-interest law firm that protects the free expression of religion. Also, as lead articles editor of the Washington and Lee Law Review, she published a column entitled “If We Recant, Could We Qualify?” that examined the exclusion of religious providers from state social-service voucher programs.

Rebecca left employment with the White House after the couple’s son was born in order to become a homemaker. She told Christian Broadcast News that “a child is eternity, and investing in him is investing in eternity.” The Dummermuths are expecting a second child this spring.

As late as this past summer, Dummermuth was listed as one of 30 members of the board of trustees for Southeast Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Wake Forest, N.C. He was elected by the Southern Baptist Convention and charged with control and governance of SBTS, Inc. His term expires in 2010. The chief function of the board is to establish policy concerning the operation of the institution and approve the academic programs offered by the school.

It remains unclear why the White House chose this particular time to submit a formal nomination for the Iowa post. Dummermuth, who oversees 25 attorneys and 30 additional district staff members, could have served as interim U.S. attorney indefinitely given the timing of his appointment. No other U.S. attorneys were included with Dummermuth in the notice of nomination. However, if confirmed, the nomination does stipulate a “term of four years.” Without confirmation, the next president could have easily nominated a different attorney for the post. Had that nominee won Senate confirmation, Dummermuth would have been immediately replaced. Still, U.S. attorneys, according to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, do “serve at the pleasure of the president” and can be removed despite agreed-upon terms of office.