Pair of acting U.S. attorneys to linger in job
Before friends, family, Ross sworn in for 4 more months
Jonathan Ross, who has served as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas since Jan. 1, will remain on the job for at least another four months after receiving a 120-day interim appointment by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
On Tuesday, Ross, 44, was sworn in by Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. in a brief, emotional ceremony.
In El Dorado, 120 miles south of Little Rock, a similar ceremony was held Tuesday morning in the federal courthouse there, as U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey swore in acting U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for an identical 120-day interim term as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Marshall welcomed family members, friends and co-workers who crowded into the courtroom gallery to watch the swearing-in ceremony.
“It’s a happy day,” intoned Marshall brightly as he prepared to administer the oath of office. “I’m glad to see so many family and friends and co-workers gathered around Jonathan.
“I received an order from the attorney general that provides, ‘by virtue of the authority vested in the Attorney General … I designate and appoint Jonathan D. Ross to be the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and to serve in that capacity for a period of 120 days or until a presidential appointee qualifies,” he continued, and with that, Marshall administered the 66-word oath of office.
Marshall then asked Ross three questions designed to ensure that the newly-minted U.S. attorney would enter the office unencumbered by outside obligations that could negatively affect the operations of the office.
Following the swearing-in, Marshall congratulated Ross.
“You, and those who stood with you exemplify the best in our legal profession and the court is glad to have you as first among equals down the street from this office,” Marshall said warmly as he shook Ross’ hand.
Ross, who exhibits a lowkey demeanor and keen sense of humor as he shepherds the work of his office through the federal court system, appeared simultaneously appreciative of the appointment but ill-at-ease
with the attention directed his way. He credited the group of assistant U.S. attorneys and support staff with keeping the cases his office prosecutes moving through the federal judiciary.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to have all of this attention but I am very humbled to have this group of people here, between family and the people that I work with every day,” he said. “I feel as if I was given the keys to a Cadillac because the office is such a fantastic office, and my job every day is to mostly stay out of your way because the work you all do is done with excellence.”
Ross talked about his father’s father, U.S. Army Capt. Edwin Lee Ross, whom he never met but who provided the impetus that Ross said inspired him to public service.
“The reason I never met him is because he died in World War II in Normandy when my grandmother was five months pregnant with my father,” he said. “My father was an only child. My grandmother never remarried and then I’m the only son of my father.”
Growing up, Ross said his grandmother, Margaret Ross, introduced him to his grandfather through the stories she would tell about him, and through the years, he said, she made clear her wish that he not pursue military service.
“I now have five children, four of which are Ross boys,” he said, chuckling at the memory, but he said his path to service as a federal prosecutor was inspired by his desire, fired by his grandfather’s sacrifice, to serve his country in some capacity.
Reading from a history his grandmother, a genealogist and historian who worked for years at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Ross was visibly moved as he related the story of his grandfather’s final day on the afternoon of July 4, 1944.
“His last words were, ‘it looks pretty bad but I think we’ll make it,’” Ross said. “He, of course, did not make it.”
Almost immediately after uttering those words to his company commander, Ross said his grandfather and three enlisted men were killed when five German tanks emerged from around a hedgerow and fired on them with machine guns.
After reading the account of his grandfather’s death, Ross then lifted up a large binder.
“You think sometimes if your house was on fire, what would you get first?” he asked. “This is it, my grandfather’s letters from England and France. This is all I have of him but I treasure this because I can see his own handwriting and know him in some small way. I said all that to say even to be just for 120 days the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, I don’t know how to put this into words, to be in this role for just a moment, I don’t believe I am due this honor but sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time.
“I just wanted to give you a little glimpse that for me there’s a connection here to my grandfather and that this is my form of service to the country,” Ross continued. “Service that my grandmother would have approved of. … I believe it is a solemn, sacred trust to be in this role and I intend to treat it that way.”
“Thank you for putting your grandfather’s service before us,” Marshall said as he stepped forward and shook hands with Ross once again.
According to federal law, at the end of Ross’ 120-day appointment, if a nominee has not been selected by the president and approved by the Senate, it will fall to Marshall to name someone to serve as U.S. attorney until a presidential nominee is approved.