Enron

So much for accountability. I'm getting that fatigue again. Nobody cares.

More On Abu Al

If the Attorney General's reputation and status were shaky before this latest revelation, surely this morning they are downright dissolved.



Why? Because now he is established in the court of public opinion if not yet in a court of law either to be a liar or a fool. Either he misled us all, via live television a la former President Clinton, when he told us two weeks ago that he wasn't involved in these sorts of conversations, Or he wasn't sharp enough to remember his presence and role at this meeting and comprehend the notion that,eventually, this information would tumble into the public realm. Either way, this latest embarrassing episode alone (never mind all the other reasons) disqualifies Gonzales to serve as the nation's top lawyer and its chief law enforcement official. Either way, it undercuts a core premise of the defense the Justice Department and the White House had tried so hard this past week to sell us: the Attorney General is a good guy who was shocked-- shocked!-- to find his subordinates playing fast and loose with well-established (if unwritten) rules about the political dismissal of U.S. Attorneys. It's no wonder that there are now two separate investigations underway at the Justice Department to determine the scope of the wrongdoing.

Andrew Cohen.






UPDATE: More from Crooks and Liars.

Here's the problem, though. As Marty Lederman points out, the relevant statute–28 U.S.C. 541(c)–vests the power to remove U.S. Attorneys with the president ("Each United States attorney is subject to removal by the President.") As we've repeatedly been told, U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President–not the pleasure of the Attorney General (and certainly not the pleasure of the Attorney General's chief of staff). The decision to fire a U.S. Attorney–much less eight of them–is unquestionably one for the president to make, so if President Bush was truly out of the loop on this, that's a problem in and of itself.

Emphasis added.

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More Sanity

From our friends up north.
Makes Nova Scotia look better all the time.

Canada's Supreme Court unanimously struck down the use of secret testimony to imprison and deport foreigners as possible terrorism suspects, ruling Friday that the procedures violate Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

While it leaves a year of confusion for a few men, it certainly declares that the rule of law cannot be something we only care about some of the time.

Really?

Government lies about terror cases.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI have significantly overstated the number of terrorism-related investigations and prosecutions they pursue, according to a highly critical report released Tuesday by a Justice Department watchdog.

ReThug Family Values

Supreme Court edition. I'd like to hear Tony talk about personal responsibility one more time.

Seems like he has/had a problem with child rearing.
A daughter of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was arrested Monday night in Wheaton, Ill., and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment, Wheaton Deputy Police Chief Thomas Meloni said.

Ann S. Banaszewski, 45, was stopped about 7:25 p.m. in a 1996 Ford Econoline van after a citizen reported a possible drunken driver was at the McDonald's restaurant near there, Meloni said.

Three of Banaszewski's "small children" were in the van with her at the time, leading to the child endangerment charge, Meloni said.

No Justice

No peace.

John McKay, the former U.S. attorney for Western Washington, confirmed Wednesday that he was ordered to resign last month and "given no explanation" for a move that critics immediately denounced as politically motivated.

Texas Justice

Stinks.

Jeez Louise

Looks like the goofball Judge Eaton of Ashland, WI, has some friends over in Wolverine Land.

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

Yet, what's most interesting is that the MI Attorney General, who successfully appealed a lower court ruling, had this little issue.

In November 2005, Cox confessed to an adulterous relationship.

American Justice

Oh yeah, we're the envy of the world because of situations like this. This is what happens when you allow a moron like Bu$hCo to appoint judges. There is no justice & there will be no peace. It makes be sick. In the name of all of us, they are going to kill a man who is

apparently brain damaged

Fucking inhuman bastards.