A screening committee has been announced to vet candidates to replace Patrick Fitzgerald as U.S. Attorney, U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin announced Thursday.
"My goal is for the new U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois to follow his lead, and I am proud that Senator Durbin and I have teamed up to put together a distinguished panel of nonpartisan reviewers to make sure we send the best candidates to the President for nomination," said Sen. Mark Kirk in a release.
The panel consists of co-chairs David Coar, former U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and Mark Filip, former Deputy Attorney General in the U.S. Justice Department.
Other members of the committee include three former prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District. They are Zaldwaynaka "Z" Scott, Christina Egan, and Lawrence Oliver II. Terence MacCarthy, also nominated to the committee, is the former Executive Director of the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois.
Each of the senators chose three members of the committee, including the co-chairs.
"Senator Kirk and I are committed to conducting an open, transparent and nonpartisan search to nominate the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and today's announcement is the first step in that process," said Durbin.
Applications for the position are set to be made available on Kirk and Durbin's websites beginning Monday. Those applications will be accepted through August 31 and are open to those outside Illinois.
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The committee is then set to examine the candidates and give recommendations to Durbin and Kirk, who will then agree on a list of names to send to the White House.
After the President submits a nomination to the Senate, the nominee must be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate.
Durbin's office expects the process to take between two and four months once the nominee is sent to the senate.
Gary Shapiro is serving as U.S. Attorney in the interim.
