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    Federal Judge Noel Hillman
    Lead Justice Department prosecutor in the Jack Abramoff Capitol Hill
    lobbying scandal and Michael Chertoff protégé, former Chief of the Office of
    Public Integrity.

    Hillman, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, was the
    lead Justice Department prosecutor in the Jack Abramoff Capitol
    Hill lobbying scandal. The investigation into Jack Abramoff, the
    disgraced Republican lobbyist, took a doubly surprising turn
    when the Justice Department said the chief prosecutor in the
    inquiry, Noel Hillman, would step down because he had been
    nominated to a federal judgeship by President Bush. This
    effectively ended the Abramoff Investigation.

    [AP, Rawls, 3/8/04; AP, Rawls, 5/27/04]

    Current and former Justice Department officials [Scott Horton
    has] interviewed have consistently identified Michael Chertoff,
    his successor Alice Fisher and his protégé Noel Hillman, as
    figures with a strong interest in political prosecutions. Each
    apparently took an interest in the Siegelman case for all the
    wrong reasons, I am told, and each had regular communications
    with the White House throughout this period.

    More in Harper's:
    <"Team Chertoff... [& Hillman]">
    <"Noel Hillman & the Siegelman Case">
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Sponsored by Friends of Don Siegelman  2007
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JUDGES
NOEL HILLMAN
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Noel Hillman
Former Chief of the Office of
Public Integrity
Press and Media for February 2008