| |
Gonzales' Resignation
Posted by Carole 28 August 2007
It's huge news that Alberto Gonzales resigned as U.S. Attorney General. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer in the U.S. Gonzales used this position to construct run-arounds to avoid following the law mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
In the U.S., the Constitution is the highest law in the land, offering protection against political unfairness. Gonzales gave approval to eavesdropping without warrants, secret detention centers, virtual torture in interrogations, ripping the U.S. Constitution apart.
He gave his boss, George W. Bush, ways to rationalize ignoring the Geneva Conventions. And he let politics influence the Department of Justice.
What's wrong with political influence in the U.S. Justice Department?
Justice is supposed to be evenhanded, not sculpted by henchman doing political favors for higher-ups. In a Democracy, justice is supposed to be independent of politics.
Partisanship may never be fully stoppable; however, the sort of blatant party politics evinced by Gonzales' actions is something that the American system wouldn't tolerate forever.
What went wrong?
Gonzales subverted the law he was supposed to uphold. He invented reasons the U.S. could use to get around legal protections. When President Bush needed someone to give him ammunition to support whatever, Gonzales was his man. This went on for years, as Gonzales was White House Counsel, then Attorney General.
It's been said that Karl Rove was Bush's Brain; it might be said that Alberto Gonzales was Bush's Puppy, doing whatever was needed.
The New York Times reported that lawyers in the Justice Department who worked on voting rights cases came under political pressure, and that trial lawyers were forced to water down cases. In Gonzales' Department of Justice, even the head statistician lost his job over an attempt to play down findings on sensitive reports. One of Gonzales' top aides testified to Congress that applicants for nonpartisan legal jobs had their political beliefs reviewed, and that her testimony may have been subject to shaping by Gonzales.
It's never good to attempt to lie to Congress; it's not smart to fool with justice in the United States.
In the end, it's sad: Gonzales rose from a humble life to such a high scale of power. He was a model to U.S. Latinos, someone they could point out to their children. The ending to his fairytale is sad.
|
|
