Sally Quillian Yates, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, is expected to be President Barack Obama’s pick for deputy attorney general.
Yates’ nomination will be announced as early as Monday or Tuesday, a federal law enforcement official confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday.
Yates, 54, would replace Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole, who is stepping down in January.
Yates’ nomination, combined with Loretta Lynch’s selection to become Attorney General, will mark the first time in US history when the top two jobs at the Justice Dept have been occupied by people directly promoted from US Attorney. It will also mark the first time two women have led Department since the mid-1990s.
Yates has 22 years of prosecutorial experience in the U. S. Attorney’s office and focused much of her career on public corruption cases. She was the lead prosecutor in the Atlanta prosecution of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.
Don Samuel, the prominent Atlanta defense attorney who has frequently gone up against Yates in federal court, had nothing but praise for the prosecutor on Sunday night.
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