US attorney secretly monitored workers’ attendance

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — When she was the top federal prosecutor in northern Iowa, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose secretly monitored the whereabouts of employees, removed the office’s civil division chief because she believed he was a poor manager and fired an attorney whom she called “flighty.”

Rose is now the nation’s youngest federal judge. She made the comments during a May deposition in a lawsuit brought by former assistant U.S. Attorney Martha Fagg, a civil prosecutor fired in 2011.

Fagg says Rose and Rose’s top aide retaliated against her for raising concerns about age discrimination.

The Department of Justice released excerpts of depositions and other documents last week with a court filing arguing that Fagg’s lawsuit should be dismissed. In her deposition, Rose testified bluntly about the performance of her former subordinate employees.