Given what we’ve seen and learned over the last several months, one might assume that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would go out of his way to avoid anything that even came close to politicizing U.S. Attorneys’ offices.
But Gonzales is apparently incapable of restraint. Knowing that there is literally nothing he could do to get fired, our embattled Attorney General is reportedly “tightening the leash” on federal prosecutors. (via TP)
Gonzales described what he delicately calls “a more vigorous and a little bit more formal process” for annually evaluating prosecutors. What that means, as he explained it, is hauling in every U.S. attorney for a meeting to hear, among other things, politicians’ beefs against the prosecutor.
If that should happen, expect the fair-mindedness and independence Americans still count on from their Justice Department to slip.
In testimony to Congress and comments at the National Press Club, Gonzales framed the meetings as a way of improving communications. But it also looks a lot like a way to remind recalcitrant U.S. attorneys what the home team expects.
And what might this “formal process” include? As of Friday, the Justice Department said it is considering one-on-one meetings between Gonzales and every U.S. attorney
As Gonzales describes it, these meetings will offer him an opportunity to let prosecutors know what they’re doing wrong, what lawmakers on the Hill are complaining about, what the DoJ’s expectations are of them, etc.
Except, as the Chicago Tribune’s Andrew Zajac explained, “[T]here’s already an evaluation process run by the Justice Department’s executive office for U.S. attorneys. But that only measures how well a prosecutor runs the office, not how loyal he or she is to the administration’s agenda.”
In truth, everyone in the game understands that U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. But until now, presidents have tended to give prosecutors wide berths and have been exceedingly careful about firing them. They have understood that respect for prosecutors’ authority hinges on the public’s belief that they are independent actors, not marionettes.
Because of that traditional circumspection, U.S. attorneys have been replaced en masse only at the beginning of a new presidential administration. Once appointed and confirmed, they’ve rarely been fired and usually only for serious ethical or legal lapses. Such lapses were not alleged among the nine prosecutors sent packing last year.
Gonzales could have maintained the tradition of reserve by repudiating the firings as an overreach. Instead he apologized only for bungling them so badly that they’ve become a public issue.
Gonzales seems intent on making sure they’re viewed as a precedent, a handy club for himself and future attorneys general to, depending on your viewpoint, either make sure prosecutors hew to the administration’s priorities or make sure they factor political considerations in their deliberations.
But it would be naive to think this newfound flexibility would not also find uses in a Democratic administration. Then how eager would Republicans be to defend it?
I suspect, not very. Call it a hunch.