JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Updated Sunday, February 03, 2008 07:34 PM

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Comments on Justice Department Appointments

Current Notes

     Federal Prosecutors - primarily United States Attorneys - have simply enormous power over individuals and businesses - in both civil and criminal matters.  They are supported by extensive assistants, researchers, investigators and scholars who deal with extraordinarily difficult factual or legal issue.  Many must work in secret under the supervision of the Attorney General to protect their work, even to protect their lives from those who may be impacted by department decisions.  Few parts of the worldwide image of the United States are more respected than our general management of legal matters.

     In the long history of the United States and the Justice Department there have been some total failures of integrity and attention to duty.  John Mitchell, an Attorney General during the Nixon Administration went to federal prison.  Nixon himself interfered directly in his own legal issues by firing prosecutors, and there are other examples of misconduct at the top levels that could not get worse.  However, in the overall, the Justice Department has managed some of the most difficult threats to the rule of law, and countless cases of all sort with the highest integrity.

     Lawyers are primary teachers - when operating at their best - of the idea that we are governed by law.  That means following both the letter and the spirit of the statutory and judicial case law  as a matter of principle - not as a result of coercion.  In spite of jokes about principles of lawyers and their conduct - most lawyers understand this responsibility and practice it actively.  The Department of Justice has generally been a solid example of the practice of this responsibility.

     Because of the enormous power that the Justice Department wields, it is always the target of politicians attempting to harness that power to manage an issue or punish an opponent.  Sometimes it works!  Sometimes those efforts becomes public - it is a rare Presidential Administration which is not embarrassed by one problem or another in the Department.

     United States Attorneys nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate serve in each federal Judicial District represent the Department of Justice across the country.  (There was about a year in 2006-2007 when the confirmation process was eliminated by the Patriot Act.  After a fierce fight about it, the confirmation process was reapplied.  This episode triggered the  2007 battle between the White House and the Congress over the way US Attorneys are fired and appointed.)

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Mukasey Slipping

     In mid-September Judge Mukasey looked like a sure thing for confirmation to be Attorney General.  The he let himself continue even though the White House makes him fudge on the water boarding issue before the Senate.  That translates to the position that he won't deny water boarding for the civilian side of the government - the CIA, etc.,  and may not pass the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Don't be surprised if he withdraws his nomination - he could lose this one.  Sounds like a good man trapped by a bad President.  11 1 07

Earlier: The Mukasey nomination looks like a sure pass - the President cannot afford to have the AG's office wander around lost when there are several serious potentially criminal investigations in the works inside the Justice Department, and some messy political investigations going on in the Congress.  It wouldn't take much for those to creep into the White House itself, and will require an Attorney General who is perceived as a square shooter to slow them down. 9-19-07

Bush AG:  Speculation is hot that the President will nominate Michael Mukasey as Attorney General to finish out the Bush Presidency.  Whether the chat is real, or just conservatives fighting among themselves, a nomination is coming soon.  He was made a federal Judge by Reagan, and has taken a generally conservative position in his opinions, including defending the Patriot Act against attack.  That by itself could cost him confirmation by the Senate given the President's persistent confrontational approach to the Senate.  There will be nominee soon, however.  September 16 2007