by Matt Barr

Life preservers?

Inadmissible, the Legal Times' people-watching column, reports that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' "two closest aides" have resigned their Justice Department posts "after just seven months on the job."

The resignation of Chief of Staff Theodore Ullyot was announced September 16. He'd been an aide to Gonzales for three years. It was reported the former Kirkland & Ellis partner and clerk to Judge Luttig and Mr. Justice Scalia would leave in October to "pursue an opportunity in the private sector."

Raul Yanes, Senior Counselor to the Attorney General, likewise worked with Gonzales at the White House beginning in 2003.

Speculation will naturally arise, as it did in the Inadmissible item, that these men are leaving Justice because there's going to be a new Attorney General soon.

Tip and pointer to Inadmissible found at the Web's most indispensable blog during these heady times for Supreme Court watchers, Underneath Their Robes.

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