The US Attorney scandal. And it really is one. Intraterm firings.
It is surprising that someone as smart as, say, MSNBC’s Tucker Let’s change every subject to Bill Clinton rather than having a Republican taking responsibility for anything Carlson can’t figure out why what the White House and the Justice Department are doing with US attorneys is really against some very basic principles of justice, and may in fact be obstruction of justice.
In the first place, Tucker ignores the basic pattern of employment of US attorneys: they are appointed for four year terms at the beginning of each administration. To say that they serve “at the pleasure of the President” (actually 28 U.S.C. section 541(c): “Each United States attorney is subject to removal by the President.”) obscures totally the overriding principle that once appointed, they are to at least seem to be free of outside influence in their work.
Furthermore, all these attorneys will be involved in dozens, if not hundreds of cases. Discontinuity more than every four years is not something to be done lightly, because of its effect on the case load.
What this DoJ and White House have done has never been done before. Got that, Tucker? and even Mr. George W. Bush is either confused or lying….sorry, Bill Clinton never did it.
The President cannot obstruct justice. If he chooses to fire a US attorney and thus obstruct justice, he is subject to impeachment, regardless of the terms of employment of the US attorney. Furthermore, if he intervenes against the interest of a defendant, by firing a US attorney, that case should be dismissed.
This is not to even get into the fact that the US attorneys around the country were already prosecuting almost 80% Democrats, and these firings would be expected to further this trend, hardly the kind of justice that America stands for, or the kind of justice expected by EVERY American, Democrat or Republican.
But beyond that, this is about interfering with ongoing criminal investigations, Tucker. Think about all the times Bush and Snow told the press they couldn’t comment on ongoing criminal investigations. That is one of the major reasons why this sort of intraterm firings of US attorneys is so hazardous, and why it is not done except in solitary for excellent and demonstrable cause. Which, of course, was not present in these cases.
What the DoJ and the White House have done, in effect, with their arrogance, shortsightedness, and ignorance, is to derail hundreds of prosecutions and investigations around the country.
And as far as lying to Congress, Tucker, you may not realize that lying is a bad thing. But it is. And lying to Congress is a federal crime. You know, like lying to the FBI? And if you don’t realize that Alberto Gonzales, our Attorney General lied to Congress, and is subject to impeachment, then you must be smokin something….like your punching bag Bill Clinton.
And that is why this is so serious, Tucker, and this is why Dan Bartlett and Gonzales were on the TeeVee today. The only question now is how high this goes. My guess is that Bush is involved in obstruction of justice, because Bartlett and Gonzales looked pretty shaken up. That’s just a guess.
4 Comments
March 13, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Great point about Tucker Carlson. He’s such a fraud. He points everything back to Slick Willy.
March 14, 2007 at 7:06 am
Interesting observation about obstruction of justice. Also, the phrase ‘at the pleasure of the President’ as used by Carlson would suggest that it is fine if the president exercises authority as a capricious, self-centered child who views power as the opportunity to treat the world as his play thing without respect for fairness, justice or due process. It’s kind of filthy on Carlson’s part to go there in defense of the president.
March 14, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I hope this will make my Tony Snow stocks go up so I make some money on it
http://www.prediction-markets.info/rd.php?language=en&wordid=111
March 20, 2007 at 12:41 am
Yep, Carlson is a dang fraud IMHO.