The corruption of the Justice Department

The Attorney General of the United States represents the United States government in legal matters. The Attorney General, therefore, represents the people of the United States, for "we the people" are the government.

"The office of Attorney General was established by Congress in 1789. The original duties of this officer were 'to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments." (From Wikipedia)

The Department of Justice was established in 1870 "to support the Attorney General in the discharge of his responsibilities."

The U.S. Attorney General heads the DOJ and "is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is appointed by the president (subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate) and serves at the pleasure of the president. The Attorney General "is also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for 'treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors."


The Bush administration has politicized the office of Attorney General as it has almost every other office and agency in the government. Today, the Attorney General is President Bush's lapdog.

Eric Alterman writes that Brad Blakeman, a former Deputy Assistant to President Bush, and a dedicated neoconservative, went on the Dan Abrams Show where he spoke of the White House's refusal to turn over to Congress FBI interviews with Bush and Cheney in the Plame investigation, based on a brand new form of executive privilege invented by Attorney General Michael Mukasey. This is what Blakeman said:

"Look, what you have is a very smart attorney general who's trying to protect his client and that's the president of the United States, an executive privilege."

Alterman notes (correctly) "That is about as warped a view of how our Government is supposed to work as one can imagine. The core attribute of the Justice Department is independence, not allegiance to the President as 'client.' The President has his own lawyers in the White House Counsel's Office. The Attorney General is not and never was one of those lawyers. To the contrary, the Attorney General represents the people of the United States -- if he has any 'client,' that's who it is -- and is often required to take positions and actions adverse to the President. Few things could subvert -- and have subverted -- the American justice system more than thinking of the President as being the 'client' of the Attorney General."

Unfortunately says Alterman, "...Blakeman's understanding of the most basic aspects of how Government works is painfully ignorant, but -- thanks not only to the Bush administration but also to one of the most derelict Congresses in history -- that view also now accurately reflects the reality of how the Government actually functions."


When Congress has asked for records and documents from the White House, e.g., the records of Cheney's energy policy meetings, the White House stalled and refused to hand over those records and documents.

Now Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee wants his committee to review "the FBI report of an interview with Vice President Dick Cheney and other records related to the administration's leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003."

The White House refused to turn over the documents, which is understandable for several reasons: Bush had formerly promised, if a person or persons in his administration were involved in this "leak," he would take swift action and hold them accountable.

That, of course, was a lie. What he did do was commute the prison term of "Scooter" Libby, one month after Libby was sentenced to 30 months for convicted for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements related to the Plame leak. So much for accountability.

Many people felt (I believe rightly) that althought Libby was involved in the leak and guilty of the charges against him, he ended up being the "fall guy" for others in the Bush administration, certainly Dick Cheney and very likely including the President himself.


Henry Waxman wants the truth. A simple enough request: Let us see the FBI report. Help us get to the truth. Who was involved?

And it's serious business. Outing a covert CIA operative is a serious crime that would likely result in heavy penalties.

Bush refused. So Waxman subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who is supposed to work for the people of the United States. President Bush immediate invoked "executive privilege" which meant Mukasey could ignore the subpoena.

Waxman has threatened to hold Mukasey in contempt of Congress if he doesn't comply with the subpoena in short order.

Mukasey should be held in contempt, if for no other reason than that he has abrogated his responsibilities under the law. In effect, he has sworn his allegiance to the man, George W. Bush, and not to the United States Constitution. Here's what he wrote to Bush when he received Waxman's subpoena:

"I believe it is legally permissible for you to assert executive privilege with respect to the subpoenaed documents, and I respectfully request that you do so." Mukasey claimed his interest was merely to protect the "separation of powers."

The Attorney General of the United States has become the political agent of the corrupt Bush administration, further the Bush agenda of hiding its activities from public scrutiny and it's suspected criminal behavior from accountability!

We can only hope that Waxman has the fortitude and the backbone to follow through with his threat to charge Mukasey with contempt of Congress. Personally, I think impeachment should be a further option if Mukasey continues to refuse to submit the document(s).


Postscript: It seems we have here another instance in which Bush has taken a page from other dictators. The first thing a dictator does is to require those who work for him to swear a personal oath of allegiance. Everyone in Nazi Germany was forced to swear their allegiance, not to Germany or its guiding documents, but to Adolf Hitler.

Please read this carefully (from Eric Alterman): "...former White House official Sara Taylor actually went before the Senate and testified that she understood that she took an oath when she went to the White House that was 'an oath to the President..."

Postscript 2: Rep. Brad Miller introduced the Special Criminal Contempt of Congress Act on July 17, 2008. "The bill provides for a Special Division of the U.S. Court of Appeals to appoint an independent, 'special advocate' to investigate and prosecute alleged Contempt of Congress against current and former Executive Branch employees when the U.S. Attorney refused to act. The bill is co-sponsored by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, and Subcommittee Chairs Linda Sanchez and Jerrold Nadler."

This is certainly a step in the right direction. We can only hope it is not too late.