William W. Mercer is a 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 District of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, as well as Principal Associate Deputy 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...

 for the United States Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

. In September 2006, Mercer was nominated by 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....

 as Associate Attorney General

United States Associate Attorney General

The Associate Attorney General is the third-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. The Associate Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General in policies relating to civil justice, federal and local law enforcement, and public...

, served as Acting Associate Attorney General until June 22, 2007; he resigned from that position days before his confirmation hearing was to take place, and returned to his United States attorney position in Montana.

Mercer is a graduate of the University of Montana. Subsequently, he received a Master of Public Administration

Master of Public Administration

The Master of Public Administration is a professional post-graduate degree in Public Administration. The MPA program prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state/provincial, and federal/national government, and increasingly in nongovernmental organization and...

 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government

John F. Kennedy School of Government

The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...

 at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1988, and a law degree from George Mason University School of Law

George Mason University School of Law

George Mason University School of Law is the law school of George Mason University, a state university in Virginia, United States...

 in 1993. During his law school years, Mercer was Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General and Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Policy Development in the U.S. Department of Justice between November 1989 and July 1994.

From August 1994 through April 2001 Mercer served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Montana. Nominated by President Bush, Mercer began serving as United States Attorney for the District of Montana on April 20, 2001.

Controversies

After his appointment as Acting Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, U.S. District Chief Judge Donald W. Molloy of Missoula (on October 20, 2005) wrote to 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...

 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...

, that "Mercer was violating federal law because he 'no longer resides in Montana' and was living with his family in the Washington area.". He also complained that Mercer only spent three days a month in Montana.

As the Washington Post noted:

Three weeks later, on Nov. 10, Gonzales responded to Molloy that Mercer "is in compliance with the residency requirement" under federal law because he "is domiciled there, returns there on a regular basis, and will live there full-time as soon as his temporary assignment is completed."

On the same day back in Washington, the new legislation was added to the Patriot bill at the request of Mercer, who had been assigned the task of shepherding the provision through Congress, according to congressional aides and new statements from one of Mercer's colleagues.

Mercer made his request to Brett Tolman

Brett Tolman

Brett Tolman was the United States Attorney for the District of Utah from July 2006 to December 2009. Before becoming U.S. Attorney, Tolman worked as counsel in the Senate Judiciary Committee for committee chairs Orrin Hatch and then Arlen Specter during the 109th United States Congress...

, who was counsel to Sen. Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...

 (R-Pa.), then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the provision was inserted into the Patriot Act, retroactive to a time that would cover Mercer's term. In light of these revelations, Sen. Jon Tester

Jon Tester

Jon Tester is the junior U.S. Senator for Montana, serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served as President of the Montana Senate.-Early life, education, and farming career:...

 called on Mercer to resign, while Sen. Diane Feinstein announced she would introduce legislation to reverse the new provision.

This was the second provision that received unfavorable notice over a year after the Patriot's Act passage; the other was the provision that allowed the administration to indefinitely appoint interim U.S. attorneys, a key part of 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...

.

A March 4, 2008 article in the Washington Post states that Mercer was part of retaliatory steps against a high-level career executive in DOJ who blew the whistle on gross mismanagement. The Post also states Mercer was "a pivotal figure in the controversy over the dismissal of the federal prosecutors". Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/03/AR2008030302684.html?nav=rss_politics