Santa Fe lawyer gets federal job
Anderson, prosecutor in high-profile cases, could start post as U.S. attorney in week or two
With a swift voice vote, the U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Santa Fe lawyer John C. Anderson to serve as the federal government’s top prosecutor in New Mexico.
Nominated by President Donald Trump for U.S. attorney in November, Anderson is a former federal prosecutor who has prosecuted players at the center of some of the state’s most highprofile political scandals in recent years and has handled cases involving some of New Mexico’s most controversial political issues.
Anderson, currently of the firm Holland & Hart, said Friday he will not take office until Trump signs a formal commission, which could take a week or two.
The lawyer said he did not want to make any specific comments on his priorities or policies before taking office. “My priorities would be those announced by the attorney general for the Justice Department as a whole,” he said.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Anderson with a voice vote on a slate of presidential appointees.
Anderson’s appointment had bipartisan support. After Trump tapped him for the post, the state’s two Democratic senators issued a joint statement with Republican Rep. Steve Pearce saying they had worked together on recommending New Mexicans for federal law enforcement appointments and congratulating Anderson on the nomination.
Anderson will take over from James Tierney, who has been the acting U.S. attorney for about a year after Trump forced out Democrat Damon Martinez along with dozens of federal prosecutors around the country who were appointed by former President Barack Obama.
Anderson’s confirmation puts him in charge of an office responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes ranging from espionage to drug trafficking and terrorism. His jurisdiction will stretch along the Mexican border and across American Indian reservations, where the federal government is responsible for prosecuting major crimes, and will encompass military bases as well as national laboratories.
Anderson is a former assistant U.S. attorney, 2008-13, who primarily focused on white-collar crime. Anderson prosecuted Gov. Susana Martinez’s former campaign manager, Jamie Estrada, for intercepting her emails. He also prosecuted Jason Loera, a Democratic political consultant who pleaded guilty last year to possession of child pornography.
After moving into private practice, Anderson represented the New Mexico Republican Party in defending the closed primary election system. He also represented an energy company in challenging a Mora County ordinance that sought to ban oil and gas development.
Raised on New York’s Long Island, Anderson graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine and received his law degree from Fordham University in New York.
Anderson first came to New Mexico after law school to clerk for 10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr. Anderson went on to become an associate at the firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico.
He lives in Santa Fe with his wife and daughter and sits on the board of the Rio Grande School.