General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So is the Department of Justice Independent from the White House or Not? [View all]FSogol
(45,312 posts)While Bush is welcome to fire whomever he wanted in his cabinet, it was wrong since it violated the separation of the DOJ from the President. Sure, the DOJ is part of the President's cabinet, but there has always been a separation of political activity by the President from the DOJ. Obama can ask Holder to resign, but he cannot change anything that the DOJ is working on. In the past, Presidents usually didn't even comment on pending cases to avoid that conflict of interest. Holder has the ability to investigate whatever he wants. To insist that Obama is running the day-to-day activity of the DOJ is silly.
Here's an article from 2007 when Bush fired those attorneys.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2007/06/18/17061/politics-weakens-justice-dept.html