One of the main issues that ignited the attorney purge scandal was the controversial Patriot Act provision the administration was using -- despite sworn testimony by DoJ officials that they weren't using it -- that allowed the President to appoint "interim" USAs for an indefinite amount of time. Despite the administrations "good faith promise" not to abuse the loophole, the emails revealed that they planned to "gum it out" until Bush left office, thereby leaving the interim, unconfirmed apointees in place for the rest of his term. Today the Senate restored the traditional process by a vote of 94-2.

This is important because Tim Griffin -- the Rove protegé who replaced Arkansas USA Bud Cummins -- is currently in his post unconfirmed. I found this in the House Judiciary Committee document dump yesterday:

So according to Cummins, Griffin wasn't willing to go through the confirmation process, presumably because he fears he won't get through (or might face some heat for doing RNC opposition research). It'll be interesting to see what happens now that he will have to face the Senate if he wants to keep his job.