[C]hristina Nolan is officially Vermont’s new U.S. attorney.
Nolan was sworn in by Chief United States District Court Judge Christina Reiss during a ceremony in the fifth floor courtroom at the federal courthouse in Burlington Friday morning. About a hundred people showed up, with many local and state officials in attendance.
Nolan is the 38th U.S. attorney for Vermont, which is its own federal judicial district. The U.S. attorney’s office has a staff of 48, 20 of whom are attorneys. The U.S. attorney represents the federal government in criminal and civil cases and is considered the top federal law enforcement official in the district.
Nolan worked as a deputy district attorney in the district attorney’s office in Middlesex County, Massachusetts before joining the U.S. attorney’s office in Vermont as an assistant U.S. attorney in 2010.
Nolan graduated from Rice Memorial High School in South Burlington and the University of Vermont before attending Boston College Law School. She is a native of Westford.
She is the first woman to serve in the role. Nolan said the significance of being the first woman U.S. attorney is the message it sends to children.
“It is so important that children in Vermont and elsewhere, that they believe they can do anything,” Nolan said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and Republican Gov. Phil Scott recommended Nolan to take over the U.S. Attorney’s office in June. President Donald Trump nominated her in September, and she was confirmed by the Senate last month. She said it was encouraging to see members of both parties come together to put forward her name.
“In these divided times, terribly divided times,” Nolan said, “The parties came together to fill this position.”
Rep. Peter Welch, Gov. Phil Scott, Vermont’s federal judges and John Tracy, a longtime aide of Sen. Patrick Leahy, all shared anecdotes and well-wishes for Nolan during the ceremony.
Much of Nolan’s speech was devoted to giving thanks, but she offered a glimpse of the direction Nolan will take the powerful office.
Speaking to would-be criminals, she said that financial crimes, crimes against children and those that exacerbate the opioid and cocaine epidemics will feel the force of her office.
“We have the talent and resources to bring you to justice,” she said.
In one of her first forays into state issues as U.S. attorney, Nolan released a statement Wednesday pushing back against recent efforts to study and establish safe injection facilities in Vermont.
Safe injection facilities are places where people can use drugs under medical supervision and without fear of prosecution. They are generally coupled with avenues to addiction treatment and other social services.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George recently recommended the creation of safe injection facilities in Vermont. For months, George led a commission that eventually produced a report recommending the sites, citing numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies on the topic.
Nolan’s statement appeared to threaten prosecution if safe injection facilities were set up in Vermont.
“Exposure to criminal charges would arise for users and SIF workers and overseers. The properties that host SIFs would also be subject to federal forfeiture,” the statement read.
When asked Thursday if the statement was meant to convey the U.S. attorney’s office would prosecute workers or patients of a safe injection site, spokesman Kraig LaPorte told VTDigger that the statement spoke for itself. Before the ceremony, Laporte said it’s premature to say if the office will decide to prosecute.
