Tag: Alberto Gonzales (page 8)

Sen. Charles Schumer called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down today. Sen. Joe Biden hedged his bets and said it's Bush's call but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I doubt it will happen. He's too entrenched. Then again, it wasn't that long ago that Harriet Miers, another of Bush's long-time, loyal counsel, didn't get confirmed to the Supreme Court.

I think rather than having Gonzales step down now, we should concentrate on electing a Democrat as President in 2008, so that we hopefully can get a less ideological Attorney General in 2009.

However bad Gonzales may be, he's no John Ashcroft. It was Ashcroft, not Gonzales' Justice Department that brought us the Patriot Act, pushed Patriot Act II, the Feeney Amendment, created guidelines for attorney-client monitoring of conversations, demanded the DEA raid medical marijuana clinics in states that had legalized medical use of the substance, and so on and so on.

Gonzales hasn't had that much of an effect on the day to day workings of the criminal justice system, so far as I can tell -- at least not in my cases. The main restrictions we face are those created by Ashcroft -- and Congress' continued willingness to enact mandatory minimum sentences.

There's lots of blame to go around.

Update: If you feel differently, you can join in Big Tent Democrat's series on why Gonzales should be impeached. Philosophically, I agree. As a practical matter, I'd rather invest my time in seeing a Democrat get elected.

This is solely my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of Talk Left and its contributors.

When Alberto Gonzales was nominated to become Attorney General of the United States, I, and thousands of others, opposed his confirmation:

As the prime legal architect for the policy of torture adopted by the Bush Administration, Gonzales's advice led directly to the abandonment of longstanding federal laws, the Geneva Conventions, and the United States Constitution itself. . . .

In January 2002, Gonzales advised the President that the United States Constitution does not apply to his actions as Commander in Chief, and thus the President could declare the Geneva Conventions inoperative. Gonzales's endorsement of the August 2002 Bybee/Yoo Memorandum approved a definition of torture so vague and evasive as to declare it nonexistent. Most shockingly, he has embraced the unacceptable view that the President has the power to ignore the Constitution, laws duly enacted by Congress and International treaties duly ratified by the United States. He has called the Geneva Conventions "quaint." . . .

Now, Attorney General Gonzales has the audacity to state that the Judiciary should not enforce the Constitution and the laws of the land when the President chooses to ignore his responsibility to faithfully execute the laws and the Constitution of the United States: