(CBS)
Only a few short years ago, they both shared a brilliant future- two smart, young, good-looking, seasoned federal prosecutors, tremendously successful and politically connected; shoo-ins for the highest level of public office. And, indeed, they both rocketed to the top of the Justice Department as Deputy Attorney General, one after the other. It was there that their paths diverged.
(CBS)
The first,
James B. Comey, served President George W. Bush for about two years, from 2003 to 2005, and then left for private practice with a sterling reputation for fairness and integrity intact. In fact, years after his departure, Comey still is remembered with great reverence by some Justice Department lawyers for his principled stand in the legal war on terror. It was Comey, acting on behalf of a hospitalized John Ashcroft, who famously
refused to sign off on the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program because he believed it violated the law. It
is Comey whom many Washington insiders believe should be the next U.S. Attorney General should the current one, Alberto Gonzales, finally succumb to political pressure and his own conscience and resign his post.
(GETTY)
The second,
Paul J. McNulty, served President Bush for about 18 months, from 2005 until yesterday, and leaves the post in disgust if not disgrace. Once himself a high-profile U.S. Attorney, Virginia’s poster child in the legal war on terrorism, McNulty becomes the latest but probably not the last casualty in the still-burning scandal over the dismissal last year of eight—some now say nine—U.S. Attorneys. No matter what his
official explanation may be for his decision to get out of Dodge, and no matter what he says from here on in, McNulty now is linked forever with this terrible mess. It will follow him all the rest of his professional days. That is because when it was his turn to stand up for the independence of the Justice Department, McNulty remained seated and kept others from rising as well...
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