DOJ Attorneys Engage in Quiet Rebellions Against Bush Policies

U.S. News and World Report posted a story on its website on August 30, 2007, that reports on how attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice are refusing to do appeals involving the detention of hundreds of people at the Guantánamo Bay naval base. This is yet one more illustration of the way career lawyers at the Justice Department are opposing Bush and his attempts to subvert Justice.

From leaking stories to the media about the reality of the Bush Justice Department to testifying truthfully to Congress, lawyers have been the source for media stories about what is happening at Justice. Since we have two lawyers in our family, we are proud of the role that lawyers have played in bringing the abuses of this administration to light.

This is not to say that all the lawyers at Justice have opposed Bush. Indeed, one of the sad things about the reign of Ashcroft and especially Gonzales has been that many of the abuses of power associated with this administration have been defended by lawyers. John Yoo comes to mind, as well as good ol' Alberto himself, but there are plenty of others.

Still when the sad history of this administration is written, one of the bright spots will be the willingness of many attorneys in the Justice Department willing to risk their careers or worse to expose this administration's war on the rule of law.

GOP Speak: "Voter Fraud" is Code for Let's Stop Black & Poor Folk from Voting

If you click on the link in this entry's title, you can read a great piece from the McClatchy Newspapers about the GOP efforts to stop minorities and poor people from casting ballots. They did this by having politically appointed lawyers at the Department of Justice bring charges of "voter fraud" against organizations trying to register minorities and poor people as voters; by pushing for adoption of voter identification requirements such as photo ids; by trying to influence the Federal Election Assistance Commission in conclusions it reached about such registeration requirements; and by trying to get rid of one of the Republican commissioners.

This article is interesting for two reasons. The first is that the article comes right out and states that the Republican operatives in the Justice Department were interested in suppressing voting by minorities and the poor. Usually mainstream media outlets are two scared of the right-wing noise machine to be so straight up in their reporting. The second is that it illustrates that progressive complaining about these tactics is beginning to influence how the media reports this story. Both are significant developments and long overdue.

Was U.S. Attorney in Seattle Fired Because He Pushed for Murder Investigation of Pro-Gun Control Prosecutor

John McKay was one of eight U.S. Attorneys ordered to resign their positions with the Justice Department. Previously he was first thought to be on the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired in September of 2006. It has come out during hearings on the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, however, that his name was on a list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired in March of 2005. Now here is where it gets very interesting.

According to this story in the Seattle Times, McKay was pushing for the U.S. Department of Justice to devote more resources to investigating the murder of one of his assistants, Tom Wales. Wales was murdered in October 0f 2001, shortly before McKay assumed office. Wales was known as a person who was in favor of strong gun control. Because Wales worked as an attorney in the Seattle office, that office was recused from any involvement in the investigation of his death.

At a hearing on this scandal in Washington, Representative Mel Watt, (D-NC), raised the possibility that McKay's pushing for action on the Wales investigation led to his firing. This quote is from the Times article: "It was suggested that Mr. Sampson had concerns or that concerns had been raised ... relating to the murder of an assistant U.S. attorney named Thomas Wales, in which Mr. McKay had requested some action by the department."

So here's where we are with McKay: In March of 2005, he was pushing for this investigation and he was also in trouble with the White House because he didn't push for a bogus voter fraud investigation in the Washington state elections of 2004. So which is it? Was he put on the list because he thought that the murder of a pro-gun control Assistant U.S. Attorney should be investigated or because he wouldn't investigate bogus claims of voter fraud? Either way, it is another example of the perversion of the Justice Department under Gonzales.

Did Regent's University Scrub Its Website After Goodling Resigned?

Earlier this month we posted a story about how Regent University posted on its website the fact that 150 of its alumni either worked or had worked for the Bush Administration. As one of our readers pointed out to us that information appears to be gone from the University's website.

Why was this done? The reader suggests three possible reasons: " Could they be embarassed that the public now knows where Bush's advice comes from? Or maybe the info has been removed because of the Gonzalez Attorneys General scandal? Or perhaps they withdrew the info because their claim was overblown/inaccurate?

It would be interesting if someone would call up Regent's University and ask them about this apparent change. If you do, let us know by posting a comment on our blog.

Insider's View of the Department of Justice Under Alberto

Law.com has an interesting article about the United States Department of Justice under Bubble-Boy's buddy, Alberto Gonzales. (Maybe we can start calling Alberto BBB). Here is a quote from the article: Third, and most significantly for present purposes, there was an almost immediate influx of young political aides beginning in the first half of 2005 (e.g., counsels to the AG, associate deputy attorneys general, deputy associate attorneys general, and deputy assistant attorneys general) whose inexperience in the processes of government was surpassed only by their evident disdain for it.

The reason why young conservatives are so willing to trash government, even as they are profiting from it, is because they don't value government, have no regard for it, and think that its only purpose is to enrich them while they destroy it. It is way past time for these people to just go. Monica Goodling was a start, but many more need to depart.

More Turmoil Caused by a Bushie in the Justice Department

During the last two days the media has been reporting on the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota who replaced an U.S. Attorney who resigned last year. Her name is Rachel K. Paulose and she is a former senior aide to Paul J. MacNulty, the deputy U.S. Attorney General. The reason why the media has been reporting on her is that Thursday three of the managing attorneys in her office resigned their management positions and went back to being staff attorneys. According to reports in the Minneapolis media, this was a protest against her "ideologically driven and dictatorial managerial style."

Readers of this blog may remember that we contrasted her experience and age at becoming a U. S. Attorney with that of Greg White, the former Lorain County Prosecutor who is the present U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Needless to say, there is really no comparison between the two since Mr. White had over 20 years of experience in running a prosecutor's office before becoming U.S. Attorney. Why would the Bush Administration give such an important job to a relatively inexperienced attorney?

The answer, of course, is politics. In politics it is common to reward those who have been loyal to you. So, on one hand, giving Ms. Paulose her present position can be seen as political business as usual. There may be more sinister motives at work, however. In the Times article quoted above appears this passage: She is also one of several conservative lawyers who worked at Justice Department headquarters or the White House who have been named to top jobs in United States attorneys offices on an interim basis. Others are J. Timothy Griffin in Arkansas, Bradley J. Schlozman in Missouri, R. Alexander Acosta in Miami and Matthew M. Dummermuth in Iowa.

Every one of those states is a "swing state" in the 2008 presidential election, including Arkansas, which, although it went for Bush twice, was carried by Clinton twice in the 1990s. Having conservative partisans in U.S. Attorneys' offices could be helpful in pressuring voting rights groups carrying out registration drives among poor people and minorities. (You can read the whole Times article here. )

Pat Robertson's Regent University Places 150 Alumni in Bush Administration

Monica Goodling, the Justice Department official who announced that she will take the Fifth Amendment rather than testify truthfully to the Congress about the fired U.S. Attorneys issue, is a graduate of the law school at Regent University. Regent University was started by Pat Robertson. According to its website 150 alumni have taken jobs with the Bush Administration. This is just one more example of the marriage between the religious right and the Bush Administration.