Bersin's recess appointment in 2010 was effective only until the end of the next session of Congress. Through the rest of 2010 and 2011, Republicans in the Senate refused to hold a confirmation hearing on the nomination, so in December 2011 he was forced to step down. After leaving government service, Bersin became an advisor at the international law firm Covington and Burling. See also List of U.S. executive branch czars References External links Biography at U.S. Department of Homeland Security 1946 births Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford 20th-century American Jews American Rhodes Scholars California lawyers Harvard College alumni Living people People associated with Munger, Tolles & Olson People from Brooklyn Recess appointments State cabinet secretaries of California United States Department of Homeland Security officials Yale Law School alumni 21st-century American Jews