The firing of eight U.S. attorneys is only the beginning of Bush's politicizations of justice

[marmar]

from TomPaine.com:


The Quality Of Justice
Aziz Huq
March 13, 2007



Aziz Huq directs the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center for Justice. He is co-author of Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in Times of Terror, and recipient of a 2006 Carnegie Scholars Fellowship.

As Shakespeare might ask, what happens when the quality of justice becomes strained? That is the question raised by new evidence of improper politicization of the Department of Justice. This evidence—but the latest in a string of revelations of justice (small “j” and big) pushed from its proper place—ought to prompt new laws to guard the propriety and independence of those who enforce the nation’s laws.

On one day in December 2006 “Main Justice,” as the Department of Justice’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., is known, fired seven of the country’s United States Attorneys. Another who is considered part of the purge was fired months earlier. They are prosecutors responsible for enforcement of criminal law in the federal courts around the country.

The president has always had the power to fire U.S. attorneys, and, indeed, incoming presidents of both stripes generally remove all sitting prosecutors and replace them with new people. But until the Patriot Act was reauthorized last March, new prosecutors had to be vetted and approved by the Senate. Thanks, however, to a provision slipped into that bill by one of Senator Arlen Spector’s aides—rather tellingly without the senator’s knowledge —the president now has power to appoint replacement prosecutors without involving a coordinate branch.

Previously, local senators and federal judges had a say in who the U.S. attorney would be, so this not only shifts authority north-west from Capitol Hill: Scorning federalism, the Patriot Act provision pulls power back to the center. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/13/the_quality_of_justice.php

[Fresh_Start]

1. No its not, how about firing Guam US attorney

which delayed the abrahoff investigation. That was much earlier and given Abrahoff was clearly GOP connected and headed for a fall, that was a much earlier obstruction of justice.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. I think "the beginning of" is meant as "the tip of the iceberg".

What we are seeing, what has finally caught the eye of the public, is just the beginning of what will be revealed to be the politization of the judicial process, including the prosecutors, the lower and higher courts and the supreme court itself. As I've noted many time in the last few years, the Nazi seizure of power was not complete until they had taken over the judiciary and the courts who could then tell the people that everything the government was doing was lawful. For that you need judges who will rule the way you wish them to and prosecutors who will prosecute or ignore cases at the government's whim. Having the executive is only half the battle, and with the executive and the courts you make the legislature unnecessary (except as a front, for the semblance of democracy).

the firing of the attorneys and appointment of their replacements, the recess appointment of radical judges, the packing of the supreme court with ideologues are all part of the pattern.

[marmar]

5. Agreed. It was the subhead on the link from TomPaine's home page to the story...

and I assumed that's what it meant. Apparently others took it much more literally.

[Fresh_Start]

7. Probably, but I think the removal of the Abrahoff

USA may resonate especially since Abrahoff scandal is well known. It shows manipulation even when Bushco was riding high in public opinion.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Ummm, no it's not. The appointment of Judges was. n/t

[marmar]

6. I don't think TomPaine.com intended the headline to be taken quite that literally....

:think:

[Supersedeas]

4. Stamped with "not to be disseminated" in all the GoP/Media Establishment offices across 'Merica