U.S. Attorney in New Orleans

After finishing his law degree at the Tulane University School of Law, Letten worked for Orleans Parish District Attorney

District attorney

In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...

 Harry Connick, Sr.

Harry Connick, Sr.

Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Sr. is a New Orleans attorney who is best known for serving as the district attorney of the Parish of Orleans, which contains the City of New Orleans, from 1973 to 2003....

 for four years and then began his career as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was involved in the successful prosecution of former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards

Edwin Edwards

Edwin Washington Edwards served as the Governor of Louisiana for four terms , twice as many terms as any other Louisiana chief executive has served. Edwards was also Louisiana's first Roman Catholic governor in the 20th century...

 and former state representative David Duke

David Duke

David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...

.

Bipartisan support for reappointment

Letten is a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

, having been appointed to the U.S. Attorney's position by President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

. Nonetheless, when Republicans lost the Presidency to Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 in 2008, many Democrats, including U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu

Mary Landrieu

Mary Loretta Landrieu is the senior United States Senator from the State of Louisiana and a member of the Democratic Party.Born in Arlington, Virginia, Landrieu was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana...

, took the unusual step of urging the new President to ignore partisan labels and reappoint Letten.

Trials

Unquestionably part of the reason for Letten's bipartisan support was his prosecution of a number of ongoing indictments and trials, including two in which Mose Jefferson

Mose Jefferson

Mose Oliver Jefferson was a member of the New Orleans family that includes his younger brother, convicted felon and former U.S. Representative William J. Jefferson...

 was defendant. The instability in eastern Louisiana after a series of hurricanes, notably Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

, was an explicit factor in Landrieu's decision.

On 2009 September 25 the Times-Picayune editorially praised Letten and the FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 for "bringing to justice" Bill Hubbard, who resigned as Saint John Parish

St. John the Baptist parish

St. John the Baptist parish may refer to one of a number of religious organisations:In the district of Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland:* The Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf* The senior Parish of Clontarf...

 president after receiving bribes

Bribery

Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...

of $20,000 from contractors.

On February 1, 2010, Letten recused himself from the case of James O'Keefe and O'Keefe's three co-defendants.