New U.S. Attorney: John Shirts Takes Over as Idaho's Top Federal Prosecutor
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 19 that Attorney General Todd Blanche has appointed former federal prosecutor and Idaho state Representative John Shirts as U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho, effective October 18. Chief U.S. District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford swore Shirts in at a private ceremony the same day. The handover followed the retirement of his predecessor, Bart Davis, on October 17 by a single day.
Shirts, a fifth-generation Idahoan who grew up in Weiser, served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Idaho from 2018 to 2024, prosecuting cases in the Pocatello and Boise offices. He previously clerked for an Idaho judge and served as an Air Force judge advocate, continuing prosecutorial work in the Air Force Reserve. A graduate of the University of Idaho and the University of Colorado Law School, he most recently represented District 9 in the Idaho House, where he was vice chair of the Agricultural Affairs Committee.
The office covers federal law enforcement across all 44 Idaho counties, with offices in Boise, Coeur d'Alene and Pocatello, 65 employees and 33 attorneys. Shirts said he will keep prosecuting terrorism, drug trafficking, violent crime, human trafficking, immigration offenses and fraud. According to the DOJ, the office filed 298 criminal cases and charged 337 defendants over the past year, handled 355 civil cases and recovered $9.2 million in judgments. Davis previously served 19 years in the Idaho Senate, 15 of them as majority leader. (GSM, from the U.S. Department of Justice announcement of October 19)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于 Boise 的爱达荷州议会大厦资料图。摄影：Quintin Soloviev，CC BY 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）
