--- title: Patrick Fitzgerald description: The 47-year-old U.S. Attorney dropped many a memorable sound byte when he unveiled corruption charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, referring to the... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6936640/patrick-fitzgerald/ author: M.J. Stephey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2008-12-11T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-23T05:24:57.306Z article:section: Politics og:title: Patrick Fitzgerald og:description: The 47-year-old U.S. Attorney dropped many a memorable sound byte when he unveiled corruption charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, referring to the... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6936640/patrick-fitzgerald/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c48a6ecd56fb769/698a4ed847ca3804933bcc63/360_fitzgerald_bio_1210.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 360_fitzgerald_bio_1210.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Patrick Fitzgerald twitter:description: The 47-year-old U.S. Attorney dropped many a memorable sound byte when he unveiled corruption charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, referring to the... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c48a6ecd56fb769/698a4ed847ca3804933bcc63/360_fitzgerald_bio_1210.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) # Patrick Fitzgerald by [M.J. Stephey](https://time.com/author/m-j-stephey/) Dec 11, 2008 5:00 AM UTC  U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.Frank Polich / Reuters by [M.J. Stephey](https://time.com/author/m-j-stephey/) Dec 11, 2008 5:00 AM UTC The 47-year-old U.S. Attorney dropped many a memorable sound byte when he unveiled corruption charges against Illinois Governor [Rod Blagojevich](https://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1865474,00.html) on Tuesday, referring to the governor’s actions as a “political corruption crime spree” that brought the state’s notoriously crooked politics to a “truly new low” and “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave.” The rhetoric, called priggish by [some](https://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/12/patrick-dont-pr.html), is not surprising for a guy who has built his career fighting Mob bosses, terrorists, drug lords and double-dealing public servants like former Bush aide “Scooter” Libby. “It has become a cliché to compare him to Eliot Ness, the Chicago Prohibition agent whom television and movies made into a symbol of incorruptible law enforcement,” the New York _Times_ wrote Dec. 9, describing him as a “folk hero” in “prosecutorial spurs.” **Fast Facts:** • Born to Irish immigrants in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Like his father, Fitzgerald worked as a doorman, helping to pay his way through Amherst College, where he played rugby and graduated Phi Betta Kappa in 1982 before earning a law degree at Harvard. • Joined the Justice Department in 1988, helping build one of the first criminal cases against Osama bin Laden years before the 9/11 attacks. • Developed a reputation for tenacity and creativity, once using a Civil War-era sedition statute to win his case against Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. (Afterward, Abdel-Rahman and his attorney were caught on tape discussing how “evil” Fitzgerald was). • Nominated by President George W. Bush to become U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois just 10 days before the 9/11 terror attacks, a position in which he oversees more than 300 employees, including 160 assistant U.S. attorneys. • Selected in 2003 to find out who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the press less than a month after indicting then-Illinois Governor George Ryan for [selling illegal state licenses](https://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1865681,00.html). Ryan is currently serving a 6-year prison term; Bush commuted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s 30-month prison sentence. • Sent New York _Times_ reporter Judith Miller to jail for 78 days for refusing to reveal her sources during the Plame investigation. Editors at the _Chicago Tribune_ blasted Fitzgerald’s relentless pursuit of reporters’ phone records in a 2005 editorial titled, “Mr. Fitzgerald, Back Off,” though the newspaper recently admitted to withholding stories about Blagojevich’s case at his request. • Fond of pulling pranks, even in the courtroom. During a case against the Gambino crime family, he interrupted co-counsel with a playful note asking: “Is there beer in the fridge?” He also once faked an appellate ruling to convince a friend that the defense had won. • Known to regularly work 100 hours each week, sometimes sleeping in the office. His workaholic tendencies are well-known and, in some cases, well-documented; colleagues told _Chicago_ magazine they once stole his oft-ignored cat to teach him a lesson about leaving it home alone. • Described as both boyish and handsome, he was named one of _People_ magazine’s “Sexiest Men of 2005.” But, ladies, eat your hearts out; he married Chicago investment-banker-turned-schoolteacher Jennifer Letzkus. **What Fitzgerald Says:** • “One day I read I was a Republican hack. One day I read I was a Democratic hack. The only thing I did between those two nights was sleep.” — During his investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity (TIME, October 30, 2005) • “I’ve played a lot of practical jokes on people for a lot of years and they all got even at once. OK, new topic!” — On being named one of PEOPLE magazine’s “Sexiest Men of 2005” (Chicago _Tribune,_ November 18, 2005) • “You’re reading tea leaves. Don’t. I don’t draw a very good tea leaf.” — Dismissing reporters’ questions after announcing his first indictment in the Plame scandal (_San Francisco Chronicle,_ October 29, 2005) • “Do I have zeal? Yes. I don’t pretend I don’t. If you’re not zealous, you shouldn’t have the job. Now, sometimes zealous becomes a code word for overzealous, and I don’t want to be overzealous. I hope I’m not.” — On his enthusiasm for the job (Washington _Post_, February 2, 2005) **What Others Say:** • “When I became a government witness, he interviewed me alone and knew the details of my case better than I did. He doesn’t rely on a phalanx of aides, although he has them.” — Former TIME journalist Matthew Cooper, on being subpoenaed during the Plame investigation (_Portfolio,_ December 9, 2008) • “He grew up in a working-class household with a strong sense of morality. He has a sort of ‘Oh, gosh’ quality, an aspect that’s almost corny, that sees things as black or white.” — Former colleague J. Gilmore Childers, who prosecuted terrorism cases with Fitzgerald in New York (New York _Times,_ December 9, 2008) • “I know this sounds like malarkey, but if he were not a prosecutor, he’d be a priest. He’s totally and completely dedicated.” — Richard Phelan, a Chicago lawyer and friend of Fitzgerald’s ([TIME](https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124306-1,00.html), October 30, 2005) • “He’s a bit of a moralist, an up-by-his-bootstraps Catholic boy with a strong sense of right and wrong. He’s like a Bing Crosby movie. He needs to get out more.” — David Baugh, a Richmond, Va., defense lawyer ([TIME](https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124306-1,00.html), October 30, 2005) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6936640/patrick-fitzgerald/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6936640/patrick-fitzgerald/"},"headline":"Patrick Fitzgerald","datePublished":"2008-12-11T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-23T05:24:57.306Z","description":"The 47-year-old U.S. Attorney dropped many a memorable sound byte when he unveiled corruption charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday, referring to the...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6936640/patrick-fitzgerald/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c48a6ecd56fb769/698a4ed847ca3804933bcc63/360_fitzgerald_bio_1210.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"M.J. 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