Margaret M. Chiara is most notable for serving as United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 for the Western District of Michigan, from 2001 until she was dismissed in the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...

; her forced resignation was effective March 16, 2007. She was Michigan’s first female U.S. attorney

Chiara was associated with a private law firm in rural Cass County before becoming a prosecutor. For twelve years she was a teacher and educational administrator, with a masters in administration from Pace University

Pace University

Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...

 and an undergraduate degree is from Fordham University

Fordham University

Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...

. Her interest in education law and school finance reform led to Rutgers Law School

Rutgers Law School

Rutgers Law School may refer to:* Rutgers School of Law–Camden, an American law school originally established in 1926 as "South Jersey Law School", which merged with Rutgers University in 1950...

.

Subsequently, she was twice elected Cass County prosecutor, and was the first woman elected to serve as president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM). Then in 1999, Ms. Chiara joined the staff of the Office of the Chief Justice at the Michigan Supreme Court.

Career as U.S. Attorney and dismissal

Ms. Chiara was nominated to the position of United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 on September 4, 2001, and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

on October 23, 2001. On March 23, 2007, the New York Times reported that Chiara was told by a senior Justice Department official that she was being removed to make way for a new attorney that the Bush administration wanted to groom. “To say it was about politics may not be pleasant, but at least it is truthful,” Chiara said. “Poor performance was not a truthful explanation.”

AP reported that during her tenure, "the jurisdiction has seen a 15 percent increase in felony prosecutions and convictions. She developed an attorney training and mentoring program that now serves as a national model, her office said."

External links

• Official DOJ Biography of Margaret Chiara, Google cached, January 11, 2007