Sean Hannity said on his radio show yesterday that Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales is exactly what the country needs to prosecute the war on terror. The “exactly” part is the issue that scares people.
The Attorney General must be loyal, yet independent from the President. This, by definition, means that the AG should not be a close personal friend of the President, which Gonzales is. His work records indicate he would probably be a very good Attorney General, but his independence would be highly questionable.
Janet Reno turned her Justice Department into a shield for the scandal-ridden Clinton Administration, blocking probes of wrongdoing by Clinton’s people, and the President himself. She shortcut the law when she illegally seized Elian Gonzales without a sanction from the court. The Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs were disasters; a boy was fatally shot by federal agents at Ruby Ridge, and the Branch Davidians burned inside their compound after tear gas was pumped into the main building. That has not been fully explained yet either.
John Ashcroft had this annoying habit of ignoring parts of the Constitution in Bush’s first term in office as Attorney General during his prosecution of the war on terror. The Attorney General swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of the land; the actions of the Ashcroft Justice Department tried to navigate around them. Consider: citizens held without trial for over three years; questionable interrogation tactics; illegal detainment issues; end result: denial of justice. Ashcroft showed remarkably little faith in the criminal justice system that he was supposed to be supporting.
I hope when Gonzales is confirmed (he will be), he does the job right.
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