We are reminded today of Reagan Labor Secretary Ray Donovan who intoned, “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?” after he was finally acquitted of wrongdoing in an alleged corruption scheme. In a shocking move, Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement Wednesday morning which read, in part:

In connection with the post-trial litigation in United States v. Theodore F. Stevens, the Department of Justice has conducted a review of the case, including an examination of the extent of the disclosures provided to the defendant. After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial.

“The Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a thorough review of the prosecution of this matter. This does not mean or imply that any determination has been made about the conduct of those attorneys who handled the investigation and trial of this case.

And so the ordeal of Ted Stevens comes to an end. He of course is without his senate seat, which was lost just eight days after his conviction. And he has shouldered an enormous emotional and financial burden. Whatever one may think of the man who championed the “Bridge to Nowhere” and who came to epitomize Republicans’ infatuation with pork-barrel spending, he plainly was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

We are left to ponder how this event affected the current political scene. Well, the Republicans almost certainly would have had one more vote in the Senate. That might have cut off a whole lot of fuss about card check. That might have put additional pressure on one or more of the three moderate Republican defectors on the stimulus bill. And it might have affected countless other close filibuster-able votes over the next two years.

All of this is a painful reminder that prosecutorial power is an awesome weapon with far-reaching implications. We await with interest the adjudication of those federal prosecutors responsible for this awful mess.