Comments on: Justice Dept.: Hiring Scandal Violated Law

Finds Top Aides To Former Attorney General Gonzales Acted Politically In Hiring Prosecutors, Judges

[brianbwb-2009]

So the failure of the justice department to check the use of torture, and other crimes against humanity by the Bush administration, is based on the illegal discrimination against people who might have been more incluned to hold such actions as legal, and against those who would not protect Bush and his co-conspiritors from the legal consequences of their actions.

[alphaa10-2009]

Correction-- "Two attorneys general resigned, rather than comply with Nixon''s unlawful order..."
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It was AG Elliot Richardson and Deputy AG William Ruckelshaus, who resigned one after the other, rather than carry out the Nixon demand.

Several impeachment motions were filed in congress against Nixon, asserting Nixon grossly had abused the powers of his office.

[alphaa10-2009]

CBS reports, "Top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by letting politics influence the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges at the Justice Department, says an internal report released Monday."
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The scandals just keeping surfacing from the worst, most criminal and unabashedly deceitful Attorney General since Robert Bork.

Gonzales is Exhibit A is the bestiary of political hacks for which Bush has a special fondness, perhaps because they are of his ilk.

Bork fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox under orders from the common crook Richard Nixon. Two attorneys general resigned, rather than comply with Nixon''s unlawful order. Bork, however, was only too glad to comply.

[stn_sage]

WELL, DUH! NO KIDDING!? We already know this!

The only reason these reports are being done is to pretend we have a functioning government!

To pretend legal procedure is being followed and something is going to be done to pursue justice!

Because the fact is: the majority of Americans no longer believe their government represents them, that it is functioning well, and that corruption and lawlessness is the norm and not the exception!

So, we file a report to tell the public what they already know---that the justice system under Bush was illegally politicized! What FOR?!

Are we supposed to be grateful? Are we suppose to believe that something is now going to be done?!
Well, it won''''t be. And, we know it!

No serious effort has, is, or will be taken by the government to bring any of the dozens of criminals belonging to the Bush administration to justice.

Frankly, the citizens need to begin calling for local meetings, to pick new candidates, to set dates for new elections, for a new government to be located in the middle of the nation.

This government has failed in it''s responsibilities to the public, it does not function under law, it is lawless, and the public is no longer subject to it!

[firststate]

tcandrews62
Replacing the US Attorneys who are political appointees at the beginning of an administration is standard. The US Attorneys make a difference in the "tone" or style, but the routine work of prosecuting federal offenses is handled by the career professional prosecutors and staff. They are civil service employees and stay in their jobs despite changes in the presidency. They are supposed to be hired based upon merit and political screening for these positions is illegal.

These are the professionals who handle the routine federal prosecutions. Except for high profile cases where the US Attorneys get a photo-op, these are the guys who decide what cases to file, the charges and manage the cases, appear in court and handle any negotiations with defense attorneys. Ideally, they keep their politics out of it so they can enjoy a career in their positions. These are the prosecutors who assure continuity in the DOJ and do the routine stuff that keeps the DOJ running, no matter who is in charge and sets the style. No administration in the last century has tried so hard to stack the deck with prosecutors who share a political agenda.

[vincan-2009]

Partisan republican crooks at work from the top down. These people did more harm to America than ever before in our history. Criminal activities were common with these war mongering neocons.

[TommyCraig]

I was under the impression that this was standard practice of incoming presidents.

[firststate]

Posted by MCVet-1

Absolutely correct, but not it wasn''t just the Nazis. It''s been a critical tool of every two bit dictator from Stalin to Castro. They staff the "Justice" mechanism with political hacks of dubious intellect and expertise. They obey and prosecute, persecute and provide legal opinions made to order. They target those inconvenient to the dictator''s agenda. They may charge opponents with crimes before an election and when the charges are summarily dismissed afterward the damage may already be done.

Fortunately Regent University made it easier to find the "reich" people, so they didn''t have to track down the "graduates" of the universities that advertise on match books and in the tabloids.

[firststate]

Using political litmus tests for career employees in the DOJ is illegal. The DOJ had a proud history of non-partisanship at the working professional level until dickNbush. They have tried to make federal prosecutions just another tool of their party. No other administration in modern history has tried this in this country. It''s to be expected in a banana republic or the old soviet union. In those the criminal "justice" system exists to further the party''s agenda, not justice. Not only did they favor neocon ideologues, but they got them from the bottom of the legal & intellectual barrel, Regent U.

Criminals running the DOJ is like having the inmates running the asylum. Gonzales was largely unaware of the Constitution, the Laws of the US and the crimes of his appointees and boss. His only qualification for the AG job was getting bush out of jury duty, so his drunk driving conviction wouldn''t be made public (bush wasn''t competent to get out of jury duty on his own) Using the dickNbush reasoning, I''d be qualified to be the Surgeon General because I put on a band-aid if I were a rabid republiCON.

[ubrew12]

Andrew Cohen, writing in the Opinions section: "I mean, Goodling and Sampson and Company in just a few short years ruined the high tradition of nonpartisan professionalism within the career-service cadre at Justice. If that doesn%u2019t merit an in-court follow up I don%u2019t know what does. All Martha [Stewart] did was lie about a single stock deal."

Its been obvious for some time that the independence of the judiciary has been the true target of the Bush administration. At the very least, those who strike most deeply at the foundations of our democracy should pay with jailtime. I hope these people, at the least, GO TO JAIL. As Cohen relates: fail to do this, and every administration in our future will feel they have carte blanche to fvck with our democracy. Stop it now, and make an example of these people, or lose what so many have died for.

We just spent a trillion dollars and 4000 soldiers lives in Iraq. What were we defending, if not the American way of life? The judiciary is an INDEPENDENT, COEQUAL branch of our government (yes, that means JUST AS POWERFUL AS OUR PRESIDENT!). This President has done everything he can to destroy that independence and weaken that judicial power. That''s unAmerican... and I don''t care what party you belong to, thats unAmerican and deeply traitorous to our nation.