WASHINGTON -- Monica Goodling, the senior Justice Department official who says she won't testify to Congress about the prosecutor firings, has resigned.

Goodling has said she would use constitutional protections against self-incrimination to avoid congressional hearings on the controversial firings of the prosecutors.

Goodling was senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before taking leave last month over the the firings uproar. Democrats ssaid if she's done nothing wrong she has nothing to fear from talking with them privately.

Her lawyers have accused Democrats of behaving like the notorious Sen. Joseph McCarthy in criticizing her for invoking the Fifth Amendment.

"I am hereby submitting my resignation to the office of attorney general," Monica M. Goodling said in a three-sentence letter.

Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, resigned under fire March 12 for orchestrating the firings.

3 Resign In Minneapolis

News of the resignation comes as three lawyers in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis resigned their management posts to return to prosecuting cases.

U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose confirmed Friday that John Marti, a first assistant U.S. attorney, Erika Mozangue, head of the office's civil division, and James Lackner, who heads the office's criminal division, have "decided to go back to being prosecutors," spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney said.

"The community will benefit from their focus on prosecuting high-profile, sophisticated cases in the years to come," Paulose said in a written statement.

She did not say why the three stepped down and indicated that she would have no further public comment. "We have work to do," her statement said.