Rachel Paulose
Encyclopedia
Rachel Kunjummen Paulose (born March 12, 1973, Kerala
, India
) is an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Miami, United States
. She is the former U.S. Attorney
for the District of Minnesota
. Palouse resigned the position of U.S. Attorney
on November 19, 2007. She was the first Indian American
woman, the youngest person, and the first woman to lead the District of Minnesota.
in the 1960s. Rachel moved to the U.S. a few months after her birth and grew up in Ohio
. She moved to Minnesota at the age of 17.
In 1994, she earned a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota
where she was Phi Beta Kappa and a Truman Scholar. She earned her J.D.
from the Yale Law School
, where she was a Coker Fellow, Editor of the Yale
Journal of Law & Feminism, Board Member of the Asian American
Students' Association and the Yale
Law Christian
Fellowship as well as Sunday school teacher at the New Haven Westville Bible Chapel.
under Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
. Her cases included violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes, and enforcement of civil rights. She then worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General
's Honors Program from 1998 to 1999.
From 1999 until 2002, she worked as an Assistant United States Attorney. Her work included prosecution in District Court and defense in US Court of appeals. Cases involved narcotics, violent crime, economic crime. Jury trial and Eighth circuit appellate highlights: precedent-setting detention of suspect based on economic threat alone; precedent-setting appellate work rejecting expansion of alien criminal defendants' claims of rights under Vienna Convention.
She worked in private practice after 2002 with the Williams & Connolly
law firm in Washington D.C until 2003, where her work focused on health care litigation and business. Work also included defense against class action suit demanding slavery reparations.
She was with the Dorsey & Whitney law firm in Minneapolis
from 2003 until December, 2005.http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt2-9070319.pdf Work included successful representation of Republican party in election lawsuit; defense of faith-based health care programs. http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt2-9070319.pdf
and she was the Department's Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud. She was a special assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
.
The following month, on February 17, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/February/06_opa_087.html, she was appointed to serve as interim US Attorney for the District of Minnesota. The incumbent U. S. Attorney, Thomas Heffelfinger had announced his resignation effective February 28.
On February 17, 2006 Rachel Paulose's appointment was announced "under a controversial provision of the renewed Patriot Act that allowed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to indefinitely appoint "interim" U.S. attorneys.".
On August 3, 2006, while serving as interim U.S. Attorney in Minnesota, Paulose's nomination was sent to the U.S. Senate
by President George W. Bush
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060803-9.html. She was confirmed
by the U.S. Senate
in a voice vote http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_343160333.html on December 9, 2006, the last day of the 109th Congress. http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_343160333.html.
The confirmation occurred without a hearing or vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee
, but was moved out of committee as part of a rarely used "discharge resolution." Paulose was sworn in as U.S. Attorney on March 9, 2007.
Paulose has pledged to fight child pornographers, and has stated that they are becoming "more graphic, more heinous, and frankly appalling." She has spoken out against urban crime, stating that it threatens the American way of life, and noted that public officials should be held accountable for their actions.
color guard
, professional photographer and choir
.
Paulose has dismissed the criticism, saying the program KSTP based its report on was inaccurate and had been discarded long before the ceremony, although the color guard and choir were indeed present. She also added that the cost to taxpayers was minimal since the school donated the use of their atrium (which they normally rent for $1,500) for the investiture ceremony at her request, she paid for everything and the total government cost of the ceremony was only $225, less than half the $500 she was budgeted. Representatives of government watchdog groups said the donation was inappropriate and that the money spent didn't include the cost to taxpayers of event planning
by Paulose's employees.
In addition the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that it was unusual that "the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Thomas Heffelfinger, was not invited" to the ceremony, Paulose's spokesperson, Jeanne Cooney, said "It was a public event. Anybody who wanted to go could have gone." The article speculates that Heffelfinger, a moderate Republican, could have been a candidate for a purge list, had he not stepped aside to make way for a more conservative candidate.
verses on the job.
The resignations occurred after a visit from a representative of the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney in Washington. A later report said that the visit had been a last-ditch attempt by the Bush administration to persuade the three not to resign, and that a fourth official declined to comment on whether he had resigned or not. Paulose's defenders say that three simply had trouble changing their ways to accommodate an aggressive young prosecutor determined to bring the office more into line with the Attorney General's policies, and it has nothing to do with politics.
On September 24 the Washington Post reported that Paulose "is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel into allegations that she mishandled classified information, retaliated against those who crossed her, and made racist remarks about a support staff employee, said multiple sources in Minnesota and Washington, who declined to be identified because the probe is still under way. In addition, an internal Justice Department audit completed last month said her employees gave her very low marks, alleging that she treats subordinates harshly and lacks the requisite experience for the job, said several sources familiar with the audit. Her performance review was so poor that Kenneth E. Melson, head of the department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, took the unusual step of meeting with her in Minnesota several weeks ago, two sources said." The U.S. Office of Special Counsel released its findings on December 3, 2008 and found that there "were reasonable grounds to believe that a prohibited personnel practice had occurred that warranted corrective action". She did indeed retaliate inappropriately against her top subordinate after he reported her for those transgressions. The OSC noted, however, that the settlement agreement "was entered into by the Department of Justice as a no-fault agreement and was not to be construed as an admission of liability by DOJ." The office and home of the OSC official who led the investigation against Paulose were raided "as part of an investigation into whether he himself mixed politics with official business."
said: "I support Rachel Paulose's decision today to step down from her duties as Minnesota's U.S. attorney. I have made it clear that I have had concerns about the office of the U.S. attorney under her watch, and I believe this decision will allow the office to move forward." Amy Klobuchar
, the other U.S. Senator from Minnesota, also welcomed the resignation.
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) is an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Miami, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She is the former U.S. 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 District of Minnesota
United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis and Saint Paul...
. Palouse resigned the position of U.S. 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 November 19, 2007. She was the first Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
woman, the youngest person, and the first woman to lead the District of Minnesota.
Early life
Paulose was born to Lucy Paulose, a CEO of an electronics company, and Joseph Paulose, a school administrator. Her maternal grandparents Daniel and Sara Kujummen immigrated to the U.S. from KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
in the 1960s. Rachel moved to the U.S. a few months after her birth and grew up in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. She moved to Minnesota at the age of 17.
In 1994, she earned a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
where she was Phi Beta Kappa and a Truman Scholar. She earned her J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
, where she was a Coker Fellow, Editor of the Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
Journal of Law & Feminism, Board Member of the Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
Students' Association and the Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
Law Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Fellowship as well as Sunday school teacher at the New Haven Westville Bible Chapel.
Career
Paulose's legal career began in 1997 when she worked as a law clerkLaw clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
under Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Arkansas* Western District of Arkansas...
. Her cases included violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes, and enforcement of civil rights. She then worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
's Honors Program from 1998 to 1999.
From 1999 until 2002, she worked as an Assistant United States Attorney. Her work included prosecution in District Court and defense in US Court of appeals. Cases involved narcotics, violent crime, economic crime. Jury trial and Eighth circuit appellate highlights: precedent-setting detention of suspect based on economic threat alone; precedent-setting appellate work rejecting expansion of alien criminal defendants' claims of rights under Vienna Convention.
She worked in private practice after 2002 with the Williams & Connolly
Williams & Connolly
Williams & Connolly LLP is a prominent litigation firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded by trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, who left the partnership of D.C. firm Hogan & Hartson to launch his own litigation boutique....
law firm in Washington D.C until 2003, where her work focused on health care litigation and business. Work also included defense against class action suit demanding slavery reparations.
She was with the Dorsey & Whitney law firm in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
from 2003 until December, 2005.http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt2-9070319.pdf Work included successful representation of Republican party in election lawsuit; defense of faith-based health care programs. http://judiciary.house.gov/Media/PDFS/DOJDocsPt2-9070319.pdf
Appointment as U.S. Attorney
In January 2006, Paulose returned to the Justice Department where she served briefly as Senior Counsel to Acting Deputy Attorney General Paul McNultyPaul McNulty
Paul J. McNulty is the former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, having previously served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He held the position until July 26, 2007....
and she was the Department's Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud. She was a special assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States. Gonzales was appointed to the post in February 2005 by President George W. Bush. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Attorney General in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Hispanic government official ever...
.
The following month, on February 17, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/February/06_opa_087.html, she was appointed to serve as interim US Attorney for the District of Minnesota. The incumbent U. S. Attorney, Thomas Heffelfinger had announced his resignation effective February 28.
On February 17, 2006 Rachel Paulose's appointment was announced "under a controversial provision of the renewed Patriot Act that allowed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to indefinitely appoint "interim" U.S. attorneys.".
On August 3, 2006, while serving as interim U.S. Attorney in Minnesota, Paulose's nomination was sent to the U.S. 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...
by President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060803-9.html. She was confirmed
Advice and consent
Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts, describing a situation in which the executive branch of a government enacts something previously approved of by the legislative branch.-General:The expression is...
by the U.S. 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...
in a voice vote http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_343160333.html on December 9, 2006, the last day of the 109th Congress. http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_343160333.html.
The confirmation occurred without a hearing or vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
, but was moved out of committee as part of a rarely used "discharge resolution." Paulose was sworn in as U.S. Attorney on March 9, 2007.
Paulose has pledged to fight child pornographers, and has stated that they are becoming "more graphic, more heinous, and frankly appalling." She has spoken out against urban crime, stating that it threatens the American way of life, and noted that public officials should be held accountable for their actions.
Swearing-in ceremony
Paulose's investiture was held before 300 people in the atrium of the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, MN on Friday, March 9, 2007. Subsequently, Leah McLean of the Minneapolis television station KSTP ran a piece likening it to a "coronation", showing a program that referred to a "processional" and included a U.S. MarineUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
color guard
Color guard
In the military of the United States and other militaries, the color guard carries the National Color and other flags appropriate to its position in the chain of command. Typically these include a unit flag and a departmental flag...
, professional photographer and choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
.
Paulose has dismissed the criticism, saying the program KSTP based its report on was inaccurate and had been discarded long before the ceremony, although the color guard and choir were indeed present. She also added that the cost to taxpayers was minimal since the school donated the use of their atrium (which they normally rent for $1,500) for the investiture ceremony at her request, she paid for everything and the total government cost of the ceremony was only $225, less than half the $500 she was budgeted. Representatives of government watchdog groups said the donation was inappropriate and that the money spent didn't include the cost to taxpayers of event planning
Event planning
Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party, or convention. Event planning includes budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and reserving the event site, acquiring permits, and coordinating transportation and parking...
by Paulose's employees.
In addition the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that it was unusual that "the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Thomas Heffelfinger, was not invited" to the ceremony, Paulose's spokesperson, Jeanne Cooney, said "It was a public event. Anybody who wanted to go could have gone." The article speculates that Heffelfinger, a moderate Republican, could have been a candidate for a purge list, had he not stepped aside to make way for a more conservative candidate.
Staff resignations
On April 5, 2007, three of her top administrators — First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Marti, second in command; civil division head Erika Monzangue and criminal division head James Lackner — voluntarily resigned those positions, reverting to simple assistant U.S. attorney status, reportedly in protest over Paulose's management style. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, she was noted for dressing down underlings and quoting BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
verses on the job.
The resignations occurred after a visit from a representative of the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney in Washington. A later report said that the visit had been a last-ditch attempt by the Bush administration to persuade the three not to resign, and that a fourth official declined to comment on whether he had resigned or not. Paulose's defenders say that three simply had trouble changing their ways to accommodate an aggressive young prosecutor determined to bring the office more into line with the Attorney General's policies, and it has nothing to do with politics.
US Attorney dismissal controversy
On April 17, the AP reported that Ms. Paulose had been contacted for voluntary questioning by the US House Judiciary Committee in relation to the "firings of 8 U.S. federal prosecutors" On May 31, 2007, the Los Angeles Times published an article stating that Paulose's predecessor was removed from his post for failing to pursue voter fraud cases that would prevent a significant number of Native Americans in Minnesota from casting ballots in the 2004 election, and that Paulose's appointment stemmed not only from her credentials, but from her work in private law filing "election lawsuits on behalf of the Minnesota GOP." Heffelfinger and an assistant US Attorney, Rob Lewis, had previously expressed their concern "about possible voter discrimination against Indians," according to the Times article. Also reported is the observation that one of Paulose's "first acts in office was to remove Lewis, who had written the 2004 e-mails to Washington expressing concern about Native American voting rights in Minnesota, from overseeing voting rights cases."On September 24 the Washington Post reported that Paulose "is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel into allegations that she mishandled classified information, retaliated against those who crossed her, and made racist remarks about a support staff employee, said multiple sources in Minnesota and Washington, who declined to be identified because the probe is still under way. In addition, an internal Justice Department audit completed last month said her employees gave her very low marks, alleging that she treats subordinates harshly and lacks the requisite experience for the job, said several sources familiar with the audit. Her performance review was so poor that Kenneth E. Melson, head of the department's Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, took the unusual step of meeting with her in Minnesota several weeks ago, two sources said." The U.S. Office of Special Counsel released its findings on December 3, 2008 and found that there "were reasonable grounds to believe that a prohibited personnel practice had occurred that warranted corrective action". She did indeed retaliate inappropriately against her top subordinate after he reported her for those transgressions. The OSC noted, however, that the settlement agreement "was entered into by the Department of Justice as a no-fault agreement and was not to be construed as an admission of liability by DOJ." The office and home of the OSC official who led the investigation against Paulose were raided "as part of an investigation into whether he himself mixed politics with official business."
Resignation from U.S. Attorney office
Palouse resigned her position on November 19, 2007, to work at the Justice Department. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/washington/20cnd-justice.html?hp In reaction, Senator Norm ColemanNorm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
said: "I support Rachel Paulose's decision today to step down from her duties as Minnesota's U.S. attorney. I have made it clear that I have had concerns about the office of the U.S. attorney under her watch, and I believe this decision will allow the office to move forward." Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party...
, the other U.S. Senator from Minnesota, also welcomed the resignation.
Memberships
- The Federalist Society: (2001 to present)
- Yale Law School Fund.(1997 to 2005): Board of Directors
- Federal Bar AssociationFederal Bar AssociationThe Federal Bar Association is the primary voluntary professional organization for private and government lawyers and judges practicing and sitting in federal courts in the United States.-Background:...
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Minnesota Chapter).
- Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation.
- Trust for Public Land.
- Republican PartyRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
(1992 to 2005: elected state, district and county delegate, volunteer)