Hey, remember former senator from Alaska Ted Stevens?  For those of you who probably have forgotten, he was the senator who was convicted in October of lying on Senate disclosure documents about hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from an Alaskan businessman; he would subsequently lose his bid for reelection that November.

You would have thought the federal prosecutors would have lined up their ducks in a row, getting their case in place to successfully prosecute Stevens; if you thought that yourself, then you would have thought wrong.  The prosecutors hit a bump in the road as the judge in charge of the case, Emmet Sullivan, held Justice Department attorneys in contempt for failing to deliver important documents to Stevens’ legal team.

Specifically, last month, ordered the Justice Department to turn over all of the agency’s internal communications regarding a whistleblower complaint against the FBI agent who was leading the investigation into Stevens.  During Friday’s hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked the 3 Justice Department attorneys who were sitting at the prosecution’s table whether they had some good reason as to why they have withheld information.  The attorneys finally said that they didn’t, and Sullivan – to say the least – was very angry.

He then held all 3 attorneys in contempt and demanded to know repeatedly who else was involved in withholding information; finally, a governmant attorney sitting in the back of the courtroom stood up and gave her name.  How in the world can you, as a prosecuting attorney, manage to withhold information to the defense’s legal team?  Not too terribly bright, if you ask me.