Restore Justice to the Justice Department

Like many of you, I awoke this morning to the news that Alberto Gonzales had submitted his resignation as Attorney General.

Following in the footsteps of his close friend Karl Rove, Gonzales exits the White House under a cloud of scandal. It must be made clear, however, that their resignations in no way mark the end to investigations into the abuses of power at the Justice Department. The Democratic Congress and I will continue to demand answers concerning the dismissal of eight U.S attorneys, as well as a host of other issues at the Justice Department.

The Attorney General's resignation is the product of a pattern we have seen time and again under this administration: our trusted federal agencies have been reduced to partisan instruments for the benefit of the White House and the Republican Party. And we have repeatedly seen in the Bush administration that competence takes a backseat to ideology and qualification to partisanship.

We can not afford to see this repeated with our next Attorney General; it is essential that our nation's top law enforcement officer understand their obligation is to the rule of law and not the political concerns of the President and his party.

Prosecutors in the Justice Department need to know that they can pursue their investigations regardless of where they may lead without fear of political retribution. The American people need to know that their Justice Department is focused on upholding the law and not finding ways around it.

Although Alberto Gonzales will soon be gone, the damage done to the Department of Justice remains. It is absolutely imperative that trust and accountability be restored to the beleaguered Department. More broadly, it is my hope that today will begin the restoration of our federal agencies as the independent and objective institutions that the American people expect them to be.

Comments

[LIR]

Ms. Slaughter, thank you for your work, especially, as it says in your bio, of exposing faux reporter Jeff Gannon.

I do seriously hope that you are right that Gonzales' resignation is not an ending but just a start to the essential investigation of his mismanagement of his office in the attorney scandal, not to mention his complicitness in the rendering and torturing of alleged enemy combatants. You and fellow Democrats must not get cold feet, or be intimidated by the White House.

[darker]

Bush-Cheney's "JUSTICE" DEPT. OF CHAOS under Gonzales must be investigated.

Bush-Cheney's entire chaotic administration must be investigated.
THERE MUST BE ACCOUNTABILITY.

ACCOUNTABILITY is the requirement of a Democracy. Bush-Chene­y-Gonzales served up a chaos of "smoke & mirrors" while behaving like CRIMINALS.

All of them must be investigated and held accountable.

[cylindar]

I see no difference between the Justice Department and the Mafia. That is a sad comment is it not. They are both the enemies of the Republic. Gonzales knows this and got while the getting was good but I think Leahy is going to burn the turkey anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Good riddance to Bad Rubbish.

[FunTravelAdventure]

From someone who nearly always voted repug and is still conservative on most issues I ask you Rep Slaughter to get impeachment of both bush and cheney back on the table and begin the proceeding to remove these two traitors from office before they finish destroying our country.

[dosch]

Amen! From your mouth to God's ears!

[LIR]

Glad to see that even conservatives are realizing that Bush and Cheney are an affrontery to true conservative principles. They have used people on the right to establish a government that has violated many key tenets of true conservatism. They also hoodwinked the religious right into supporting them, when in reality they could care less about them. At least with a liberal, you would know where you stand, but with these phonies, they would say and do anything to draw in conservatives while paying lip service to their beliefs.

The neoconartists tricked you and many in America. I am glad you realize it.

[tcagle]

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, Congresswoman Slaughter. The people are waiting to see extraordinary measures, right now. I don't know how the public can be any clearer to our legislators than we have been. You have our blessing. Get them out, then clean up government with appropriate bills.

[Rescisco]

"...it is essential that our nation's top law enforcement officer understand their obligation is to the rule of law and not the political concerns of the President and his party."

I think it was pretty essential BEFORE this resignation. The damage already done will not be easily undone, and for that we have too many people in the Congress to thank.

[jackbauer0396]

Please, Representative Slaughter. Do not let me down. I'm more upset with Congress right now than I am with the president... and that is pretty difficult to do. Please prove to us that the Democrats aren't just Republicans without the power to actually muck things up.

[epmahc]

My bet is the white house will still try to appoint another crony . Can any one say Harriet Miers

[MidwestBlue]

Rep. Slaughter,
I am so glad to hear you're taking this seriously. You are one of only a dozen or so members of Congress I've seen who doesn't put politics over country. Thank you, and by the way, please do not even consider Michael Chertoff as a replacement. In fact,
Michael Chertoff should step down as Head of Homeland Security. He is clearly not competent to run that massive department. Definitely do not consider Fran Townsend, either.
Thank you.

[outnow]

In order to restore the rule of law, offenders must be treated equally under the law. Procedural due process means that the law must be applied in an even-handed way.

Gonzalez was probably involved in a conspiracy to obstruct justice by dismissing certain of the attorneys general. These dismissals were intended, in my opinion, to protect political figures who were using their offices in Congress to enrich government defense contractors who either contributed to them or to their party. An example would be Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Carol Lam, for example, was targeted by Darryl Issa for her position on "gun control," allegedly. Granted, that Diane Finestein, a Democrat, had made some criticism too in writing but the dismissal was highly suspicious. Ms. Lam was able to file an indictment on one of the most outrageous schemes to take bribes in U.S. history.

I will not comment on the other U.S. Attorney firings, which speak for themselves, because these fine men and women have spoken for themselves in the face of threats and career loss. But I have never encountered a wholesale selling of the Justice Department by partisan political hacks as has been going on with Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzalez, and George W. Bush, the puppet of Richard B. Cheney.

I urge you to sign on to the petition to launch an impeachment inquiry authored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich and to resist the confirmation of any more appointees for Attorney General by this president who are not above reproach from the standpoint of character and impartiality.

[ImpeachmentNOW]

.

THIS JUST IN: Dumbya will nominate Michael (Lynch the Duke LaCrosse Team) NIFONG to be next AG. Nifong is the only person in the world with lower ethics, less honesty, a lower IQ and less respect for the law than Gonzo. This makes him the perfect choice to assist the WORST PRESIDENT EVER in the further destruction of the Constitution and rule of law.
.

[Truthorelse]

What did you expect? That he (Dumbya) would nominate someone with an ethical backbone? Naaah!
But look at the bright side - at least it is not Chertoff.....

[SamSeven]

Yes Rep Slaughter please do your job. The American people demand it. rehire the former US attorny generals, restore justice by repealing the Military Justice and Patriot Acts as well. Then get the impeach hearings set for VP Cheney. That's what JUSTICE is all about doing the right thing.

[400poundnudist]

Rep. Slaughter,
The time for words has long passed. The time for action is now! We are tired of Democrats talking tough, then not backing it up. Prove to the American people that you are willing and able to act.

[Truthorelse]

I shall second this motion! I, too, am tired of the 'opposition party' acting like schmucks and co-conspirators in the assault on Constitution!

[3reddogs]

Okay, I shall "third" this motion. Before you went on vacation you gave this president the power to spy on American citizens with no judicial oversight whatsoever. You've allowed our Constitution to be gutted by provisions in the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act and you set this country back decades when you allowed Edwards and Alito onto the Supreme Court without a fight.

George Bush has repeatedly made me ashamed to be an American and in the past several years Pelosi, Reid and a host of others have made me ashamed to be a Democrat. Impeachment belongs on the table and the time for all the empty talk is long since past. If the Democrats continue to roll over and play dead then you're all going to be in for the surprise of your life in 2008!!

[JerryKCDC]

For the record, Rep Slaughter voted against this bill.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll836.xml

[gallery]

Mind if we hold you to that statement ?

I'm still plenty angry about what you guys did about FISA and the military commissions act.

And no more "stern" letters from Senator Leahy ..... we want RESULTS.

[Economike]

Rep. Slaughter

I agree with comments on this and other blogs today that you need to make sure that a recess appointment does not occur and cut short your vacations if necessary.