Matt Ortega

After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Dept. … It’s sad. (pause) That we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding from doing important because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.

–President George W. Bush
(Crooks & Liars, 08/27/07)

President Bush’s statement is beyond laughable. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was opposite the truth on the U.S. attorneys at every turn. He contradicted himself under oath on numerous occasions. Gonzales damaged himself so bad politically that even Republicans were questioning the integrity of his statements and testimony.

These are the “accomplishments” that Bush felt he had to point out in order to defend Gonzales’ good name?

• Cracking down on online child sex predators: I believe Mark Foley is still on the streets and what happened to those slew of Department of Homeland Security officials that were nabbed on related charges?
• Enforcing civil rights protections? The Civil Rights Division was one of the most politicized offices in the entire Justice Department.
• Cracking down on corruption? Evidence suggests that the Justice Department, with Gonzales at the helm, was actually impeding corruption cases, such as with the firing of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, Carol Lam, who successfully prosecuted former Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego, Calif.).

Dragging names through the mud for political reasons? This administration has made that an art form.

Breaking news this morning as Alberto Gonzales will resign as U.S. Attorney General, ending a scandal-ridden tenure as the nation’s top law enforcer.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will likely be Gonzales’ replacement, reports CNN’s Political Ticker. Chertoff was confirmed as DHS secretary by the U.S. Senate 98-0 prior to Hurricane Katrina.

So long, Alberto. You’re an embarrassment to your country and to your community. Torture. Warrantless surveillances of millions of Americans. Denial of habeas corpus. Politicization of the entire Justice Department, including the Civil Rights Division. You have done more to desecrate the flag than any protester; more to usurp the Constitution of the United States of America than any saboteur.

Gonzales is gone (effective mid-September) and the country is better off for it.

Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has the authority to “fast track” executions by shortening the time death row inmates get to appeal their sentences. It is another one of those “little known provisions” in the reauthorized PATRIOT Act, like the provision that Senator Arlen Specter’s (R-Pennsylvania) staff inserted that granted the attorney general the ability to name replacement U.S. attorneys indefinitely.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year’s reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.

Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use “fast track” procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.

This, of course, is of concern to communities of color, particularly the black community, because of a disproportionate number of blacks are on death row. And as many may remember, President George W. Bush was widely known for throwing the switch while serving as the Governor of Texas — 131 times, according to the Chicago Tribune.