Stephen J. Cox was appointed as the US Attorney of the Eastern District of Texas and assumed that position earlier this year.  The Eastern District is one of four districts in Texas; it is the smallest district in Texas consisting of 43 counties and maintains offices in the cities of Beaumont, Plano, Tyler, Texarkana, Lufkin, and Sherman, TX.

 

Mr. Cox began with some perspective about the Justice Department’s responsibility of handling litigation involving the United States.  It doesn't represent individual clients in the usual sense, it represents the United States, and when representing the United States, it’s not just about winning.

 

In explaining his last position at the Department, Mr. Cox explained that the Office of the Associate Attorney General oversees, among other things, five litigating divisions – the civil division, the environmental and natural resources division, the civil rights division, the tax division, and the antitrust division.

 

One of the primary goals of the Trump administration has been regulatory reform, and he feels a great deal of progress has been made.  He explained that Congress passes laws in the form of statutes, and the agencies of the government promulgate regulations to implement the statutes consistent with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  Because this rule-making process can be slow, some agencies have taken short-cuts and in some cases issued rules in the form of “guidance documents” without complying with the APA.  Sometimes rulemaking by guidance can be overwhelming, and as an example, he referenced the 37,000+ guidance documents which exist on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid webpage.  The Justice Department has been focused on curbing this practice of rulemaking by guidance and restoring the rule of law and compliance with the APA. 

 

Turning to the Eastern District, Mr. Cox first described the role of the U.S. Attorney.  He explained that U.S. Attorneys can trace their origins back to the Judiciary Act of 1789, which directed the President to appoint in each federal district a person to act as an attorney for the United States.  As reflected in that law, the charge of the US Attorney is “to prosecute in (each) district all delinquents for crimes and offenses cognizable under the authority of the United States, and all civil actions in which the United States shall be concerned.”

 

Mr. Cox then went on to outline his priorities for his new position as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.  While the District will always be focused on violent crime and national security, the office will be focusing on new priorities including Elder fraud and COVID-19 fraud*.  For example, the District will be pursuing transnational criminal organizations involved in fairly sophisticated schemes to defraud the elderly and those who are exploiting COVID-19 through fraud, hoarding, and price-gouging.

 

His focus is on enforcing the law of the land in a way that is true, fair, and beneficial to the American people, very much in line with the key concepts of Rotary's Four-Way Test.