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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
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