friends in high places

At 34, Rachel K. Paulose is the first woman in the Minneapolis' history to hold the job as United States attorney, and one of the few people of South Asian descent in the country to be confirmed in that position. She has also drawn quite a bit of criticism and controversy since her extravagant swearing-in ceremony last month. Some suspect that the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota Thomas Heffelfinger was forced by the Justice Department to resign, and replaced by the up-and-coming partisan Paulose. Sepia Mutiny broke it down a few weeks back: After the Purge we get Rachel Paulose. And last week, three of Paulose's top deputies stepped down from their leadership positions, apparently in protest of her "ideologically driven and dictatorial managerial style": Deputies to a U.S. Attorney Step Down. (Thanks, Helen)