Thomas E. Delahanty II appears to be headed back to his future.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed the Maine Superior Court justice as the U.S. attorney for Maine. Delahanty, 65, of Falmouth held the same job for 14½ months during the Carter administration in 1979 and 1980.
Delahanty was nominated in March by President Barack Obama to replace Paula Silsby, who has served as U.S. Attorney since September 2001.
“I’m hoping I can get things lined up and be sworn in quickly,” Delahanty said Tuesday from his chambers in the Androscoggin County Courthouse in Auburn. “I should be able to wrap up my duties here fairly quickly.”
Thomas E. Humphrey, chief justice for the Superior Court, said that he expected the governor to fill the vacancy left by Delahanty along with several other judicial vacancies before the end of the summer.
“I am honored to join with my colleagues and the entire court family to congratulate Justice Tom Delahanty upon his confirmation as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine,” Humphrey said in an e-mail Tuesday. “Throughout his 26-year judicial career, Tom has served the people of Maine with remarkable talent and energy as a justice of the Superior Court. We will truly miss him.”
Delahanty said Tuesday that although he once served as U.S. attorney, the job has changed dramatically since he was a federal prosecutor.
“There is a different focus now than there was 30 years ago,” Delahanty said. “Terrorism was not an issue 30 years ago. The federal firearms statute now prohibits the possession of a gun after a conviction for domestic violence, and there’s a greater emphasis on financial crimes.”
During his previous stint as U.S. attorney, Delahanty said that there was a major push to prosecute marijuana smugglers.
“Drug trafficking is still there, but it’s different,” he said. “Thirty years ago there was a lot of emphasis on large-scale marijuana smuggling along the coast. Now, it’s not coastal smuggling we’re dealing with so much, but the smuggling of harder drugs.”
Delahanty said that in 1979, he had five prosecutors on his staff; now there are about two dozen assistant U.S. attorneys in Bangor and Portland. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then operated with typewriters and paper files. Today, the federal judiciary’s sophisticated computer system is considered to be almost paperless, far ahead of the state court system technologically.
“Taking this job has nothing to do with not wanting to be a judge,” Delahanty said. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being on the Superior Court. It’s been a huge part of my life since my father was appointed to the Superior Court in 1958.”
Delahanty’s father, Thomas E. Delahanty, served on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from 1973 until 1979 after serving on the Superior Court bench. He died on Feb. 4, 1985, at the age of 70.
Maine’s new U.S. attorney is a 1967 graduate of St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt. Delahanty earned his law degree from the University of Maine Law School in 1970. He worked as an associate at Marshall, Raymond & Beliveau from 1970 until 1974, then worked as a prosecutor in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties until 1979.
The Lewiston native said that he felt he was just beginning to make his mark as a federal prosecutor when Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in 1980. Delahanty had replaced George Mitchell as U.S. attorney when Mitchell was named to a federal judgeship, a job Mitchell held for 10 months.
Delahanty has been a justice for the Maine Superior Court since 1983 and served as chief justice from 1990 until 1995. Before that, he was a partner for two years in the law firm Delahanty & Longley with James Longley Jr.
Delahanty was one of four candidates for the position submitted last year to the White House by Maine’s two U.S. House members, Reps. Michael Michaud and Chellie Pingree.
“Judge Delahanty comes to this office with a wealth of experience — both as a judge and a former U.S. attorney,” Pingree of North Haven said. “I’m grateful that this position has been filled, and I’m really looking forward to sitting with Judge Delahanty to hear about his plans for the office and to share with him some of the feedback I’ve gotten from the legal community here in Maine.”
Delahanty, who has been married for 39 years, has two sons and a granddaughter.
The U.S. attorney’s job pays an annual salary of $153,200, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Delahanty now earns nearly $112,000 as a state judge, according to Mary Ann Lynch, spokeswoman for the Maine court system.