Conyers Seeks Confirmation That Justice Dept. Is Limiting White House Interference

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/05/justice-dpmt-interference/

Conyers Seeks Confirmation That Justice Dept. Is Limiting White House Interference

In 1993, then-Attorney General Janet Reno instituted a policy that limited the number of people at the DoJ and the White House who could communicate with each other about pending investigations and cases. Only three people at the Justice Department and four people in the White House — the President, the Vice President, the White House Counsel, and the Deputy White House Counsel — were given such authority. The arrangement was intended to restrict political interference in the administration of justice.

The Bush administration, however, significantly expanded the number of potential contacts after taking office:

In 2002, Attorney General Ashcroft authorized at least 42 people at the Department to have initial communications with more than 400 people at the White House regarding pending Department investigations and cases. In 2006, Attorney General Gonzales changed the policy yet again to authorize almost 900 people in the White House to have such communications with at least 42 Department officials.

After raising concerns about the expansion during former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ congressional testimony in the U.S. attorneys scandal, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced a bill to limit communications between the White House and the Justice Department, which the Senate Judiciary Committee approved last week.

In an editorial titled “Depoliticizing Justice,” the Washington Post reported last week that the Department is “changing the policy” on its own volition. News of the change came as a surprise to members of the House Judiciary Committee, who wrote a letter to Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler today, asking him to “confirm and explain the policy change”:

While we welcome the news that the Department intends to change this internal policy, we were surprised to learn of it through a newspaper editorial rather than through notice to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. {…}

We ask that you confirm and explain the policy change regarding contacts between Department and White House employees, including providing copies of documents reflecting the change and notice of precisely when the change will take effect and how it will be communicated to Department and White House personnel.

Read the full letter here:
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/10-5-07-letter-to-keisler.pdf

Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey has reportedly “assured” Senate Democrats “that he would limit contacts between the Justice Department and the White House to halt any political meddling with ongoing investigations.”

[L. Coyote]

1. K & R = New Acting AG Peter Keisler = Do we need HEARINGS on his USA firings role?

There are real concerns that the Acting AG is just a Gonzo clone and a Bush junta co-conspirator.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1849324

[EST]

2. Isn't that just ducky.

Notifying an entire branch of the government of your intentions via an editorial? Kinda reminds me of a certain compassionate conservative who notified his wife of her divorce on TV.
Classy bastards have learned nothing at all and this proves it.

Obstreperous adolescents have to have firmly established rules...they can't be depended on to do the right thing simply because it's the right thing to do. No amount of alcoholic reasoning and heartfelt vows should be allowed to substitute for a firm hand and black letter law.

Republicans have to have rules.

[L. Coyote]

3. The Editorial: Depoliticizing Justice

Depoliticizing Justice
Limiting contacts between the department and the White House should help.
Sunday, September 30, 2007; Page B06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092901348.html?nav=rss_opinions

THE JUSTICE Department is taking a good first step toward restoring its integrity by revamping an internal policy that fueled the perception that it had become inappropriately politicized. The policy regulates who at Justice may speak with the White House about ongoing criminal and civil law enforcement cases. During the tenures of Attorneys General John D. Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, dozens of department employees were authorized to speak with hundreds of White House personnel about such matters. Frequent contacts, along with controversies involving the firing of U.S. attorneys and the alleged politicization of other programs at Justice, reinforced the belief that politics too often drove law enforcement and legal decisions that should have been free from partisan considerations.

Justice is now changing the policy so that only the very top leadership of the department would be permitted to speak about pending law enforcement matters with top White House officials, including the president, vice president and White House counsel. ....

[KoKo]

4. Well Dem's in CONGRESS...WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU SINCE 2000

THAT SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG! Excuse us for not falling all over you who have JUST DISCOVERED IT!

:puke: