It's official. Deputy Attorney Larry Thompson is leaving the Justice Department. Thompson is the 6th Justice Department official to depart in recent months. As we noted yesterday , Thompson's departure has us concerned:

We like Larry Thompson a lot, and have always felt a little better knowing he was at Justice, hopefully providing some measure of moderation to Ashcroft. We don't like the list of possible replacements and are concerned that Larry's departure will be a bad omen for freedom and justice.

Apparently, Congress is concerned as well. The New York Times reports ,

Indeed, some lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — are already voicing concerns about the process for replacing the officials.

In the past three weeks, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, blocked Senate votes on the nominations of three assistant attorney general nominees.

Members of Congress have complained repeatedly about what they see as the Justice Department's failure to heed their concerns on the Patriot Act and other issues. And Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said today that he had one word of advice for the new batch of officials who will lead the Justice Department: "consult."

The attorney general "would be wise to consult Congress on the new people he wants to bring in and the newcomers would be well served by picking up the phone to work with Congress" on Justice Department policy, Mr. Schumer said.

Thompson will be going to the Brookings Institution for six months, and then back to his home in Georgia, to teach and perhaps practice law. He'd like to take some pro bono cases.