Meanwhile in the Senate, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday into the Bush administration’s controversial dismissal of several federal prosecutors. The attorney firings — and their replacements — have raised allegations the Bush administration is interfering with the judicial system. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty admitted a federal prosecutor in Arkansas was replaced to make way for a former Republican National Committee research director and aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove. At least 11 U.S. attorneys have been forced out under an obscure provision in the USA PATRIOT Act that allows the U.S. attorney general to name replacements without Senate confirmation. The dismissals include San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. She oversaw the corruption prosecution against the jailed former Republican Congressmember Duke Cunningham. Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Schumer of New York said: “Even the hiring and firing of our top federal prosecutors has become infused and corrupted with political, rather than prudent, considerations.”