Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector-General (IG) Michael Horowitz has been asking Congress for years to expand his authority to include investigating professional misconduct allegations against government lawyers, but his request is getting a cold reception in the Senate.
Horowitz’s most recent plea for the added authority—he is the only one of the 72 statutory IGs in the federal government who cannot investigate such allegations within his department—came during a March 23 House budget hearing.
“While the IG has jurisdiction to review alleged misconduct by non-lawyers in the department, it does not have jurisdiction over alleged misconduct committed by department attorneys, including federal prosecutors, when they act in their capacity as lawyers—namely, when they are litigating, investigating, or providing legal advice,” Horowitz told members of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies….