1. When the interests of prosecutors align with those of defendants or incarcerated individuals, courts may choose to inquire independently into the other side of the dispute. Although rare, it presents the theoretical opportunity for these disputes to still proceed and percolate through the federal courts. 208. During the Clinton Administration, local U.S. Attorneys' offices needed authorization from the Justice Department before affirmatively seeking capital punishment. During the George W. Bush Administration, by contrast, Attorney General John Ashcroft implemented new procedures, requiring prosecutors to seek Justice Department authorization to pursue or not to pursue capital punishment when the charged conduct was death-penalty eligible. See DOJ, The Federal Death Penalty System: Supplementary Data, Analysis and Revised Protocols for Capital Case Review pt;Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae Supporting Petitioner at 10-15,2001
2. Ashcroft's Death-Penalty Edicts;Columbia Law Review),2003
3. Brief for the United States at 9-10, Nunez v. United States;Federal Death Penalty System, supra note 208, pt. 1, � A. 217,2008