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Senator Richard Durbin
230 South Dearborn St.
Suite 3892
Chicago, IL 60604
November 13, 2004
Re: Alberto Gonzales
Dear Senator Durbin,
It is with a heavy heart that I write you today. For the past four years, our nation has greatly suffered from the incompetence and unconstitutional actions of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Any honest legal scholar or student of history would conclude that he has been the worst Attorney General in this country’s history. Until now.
For some, it was inconceivable that the President could select someone worse than John Ashcroft as his replacement. Yet, he did precisely that. Alberto Gonzales is an abomination, a danger to our democratic way of life and an even greater threat to our freedoms and constitutional rights than any bomb constructed by Al Qaida.
By way of comparison, please allow me to digress slightly. Despite his many flaws and legal problems, former Illinois Governor George Ryan accomplished one deed that has changed the legal climate not only in Illinois, but throughout the country. Once he learned that the existing political-legal climate had caused the application of Illinois’ Death Penalty to be patently unfair, he did not take the easy, political step of ignoring the issue, or relying on platitudes intended to placate the average voter. Instead, he took the brave step of doing everything possible to understand and define the problem, then, he put into motion the difficult, even unpopular steps necessary to fix it. All citizens owe him a debt of gratitude for his rational and fair-minded approach to that problem. Because of his hard work and insight, 14 innocent individuals no longer sit on Illinois’ Death Row. Other states, with the painful exception of Texas, are following Illinois’ lead.
One of the more feeble compliments paid to Alberto Gonzales are that he was viewed as a “moderate” while serving on the Texas Supreme Court. One of the advantages of our modern society is that West and Lexis permit you to research the decisions rendered by any judge, including those of Justice Gonzales when he served on that Court.
Without boring you with numerous examples or legal citations, proclaiming Alberto Gonzales to be a “moderate” on the Texas Supreme Court is akin to labeling Martin Bormann a “moderate” member of the Nazi Party. While both statements may be true, when viewed in the greater context, it is patently obvious that Gonzales’ decisions and writings on the court are far from mainstream jurisprudence. They constitute a clear warning of how unacceptable this man is.
Suffice it to say that his actions on the Texas Supreme Court would alone be sufficient cause to prevent Gonzales from ever holding any public office. Not once would he even consider the prosecution to have acted in error. Not once did he ever find grounds to criticize improper convictions. For Gonzales, if a jury finds a person guilty, regardless of the circumstances, be it improper evidence, false confessions, false witnesses or DNA evidence confirming the innocence of the accused, every single time, Gonzales sided with the prosecution. The differences between his approach to fair application of the law and Governor Ryan’s are most striking.
The most disturbing aspect of his legal decisions is his apparent moral certitude. Obviously both Gonzales and President Bush share the identical failing. As Bertrand Russell once stated, “Moral certainty, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, can never construed to be an asset.”
When Alberto Gonzales served under the Governor Bush, it was his duty to inform the governor of the details on all death penalty cases. Whereas George Ryan had the insight and bravery to put a stop to a patently unfair system, Texas death penalties were imposed unabated and without any concern for fairness or honesty. Evidence of mental incapacity of the accused, incompetent counsel, falsified evidence, and mistaken identities were routinely ignored and covered up by Gonzales. If anything, he appeared eager to have people be killed as soon as possible rather than seek the admittedly more time-consuming and difficult task of insuring that only the truly guilty were to be put to death. As stated in the Atlantic Monthly, "Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence."
The most recent and disturbing example of Gonzales’ unsuitability for office occurred in 2002. Gonzales authored an August 1, 2002 Memo entitled, “Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2340-2340A”. This document makes for chilling reading. Its impact is not limited to merely scaring most law-abiding citizens. It led directly to the violation of the Geneva Convention by US military and intelligence personnel in Guantanimo, Abu Ghraib and other Iraqi prisons. The repercussions of our failures there have yet to come home to roost. For the first time since My Lai, the United States is guilty of war crimes. It is nothing to be proud of. Almost as bad was his analysis of the War Crimes statute (18 USC §2441).
Solely because of Gonzales’ misguided and illegal decisions, America’s reputation across the globe has been seriously harmed, perhaps, irreparably damaged. For many decades, we were the beacon of law, order and freedom. Our moral reputation, sense of fair play, and love of democracy, not our military might, was our greatest strength, for it caused all bystanders to understand why we acted in certain ways. It caused the oppressed to have hope, and to seize their own opportunities when they became available. It made them want to emulate our own legal and constitutional systems because they were fair, equitable and rational.
Sadly, that is no longer the case. Under Gonzales’ guiding principles, we have become the torturers, the murderers, the liars. All of our goodwill has been erased. All of our moral authority has been eradicated. All future problems with American prisoners of war (for, it is certain that we will suffer POWs again, no matter how strong our military is) will be directly connected with Gonzales’ convenient, illegal and horrifying August 1, 2002 declaration and its progeny. What makes it all even worse is the repeated statement by CIA and other intel experts, that torture almost never provides decent, useful information. While it is more time-consuming, better intelligence is gained through other means. So, not only were US policies based on Gonzales’ memo unjustified and illegal, the actions based on his memos were counter-productive.
In summary, Alberto Gonzales is far more dangerous than John Ashcroft, despite Ashcroft’s best efforts. Gonzales cares little about our Bill of Rights, the Geneva Convention, and long-settled aspects of criminal and constitutional law. His appointment is not just a travesty, it is a disaster in the making. Any one of the three points I raise would be sufficient to bar any person from federal office. Together, they paint a picture so dire and dangerous, that we cannot afford to gamble on a supposed change of heart. His nomination must be stopped.
Let us ignore his work on behalf of Enron, or the fact that he will lead Justice in its investigation of the Valerie Plame situation. Let us ignore that voter fraud and machine voting problems will receive neither the notice nor the independent, professional review necessary for a thriving democracy to survive. Most importantly, let us ignore the fact that Gonzales is Hispanic.
Being Hispanic does not give any person the right to violate the Constitution, ignore fairness and equity, and violate international standards of civilized behavior. In January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany. Does anyone dare think that refusing to appoint Hitler might have upset the Austrian vote? Suggesting that the Senate Democrats must approve Gonzales simply because he is Hispanic is both racist and anti-intellectual. It is also self-defeating. Failing to stand up against this horrific appointment will mean that the Democrats will never be able to stand up for what is right and to defeat what is wrong.
Senator, I know that it is highly unlikely that you will personally read this letter. Given your promotion and your senatorial duties, it is most likely that an aide is tasked with identifying and categorizing your mail. He or she will then send an approved form letter in response. This is not a criticism, merely an understanding of your duties and responsibilities and the time constraints that come with your office.
To the person who will actually read this letter, I beseech you to hear this Clarion Call. I am active in a number of internet –related sites, and have worked hard on behalf of the Democratic Party for the past several years.
The recent performance of the US Senate Democrats has been found to be lacking in spine and rational behavior. There are serious movements afoot to create a new third party. This movement is growing in strength, mainly because they see a Democratic Party that is afraid of its own shadow. It is afraid to take a stance against the most outrageous decisions of this administration. This administration’s timing has been impeccable before; with this appointment, the president is at it again. If the Senate Democrats do not prevent this appointment, a new third party may be our only hope, for the Democratic Party will again prove to be incapable of fulfilling the responsibility it claims to have earned. Waiting ‘to pick the right battle” is result in four wasted years of waiting. The most important battle is facing us right now.
In his first administration, he claimed to be a uniter, not a divider. With every step, he proved those words to be a lie. Now, on the eve of his second administration, he claims that all people are welcome – so long as we blindly follow his decisions and positions on critical issues. Despite his pleasant-sounding words, his actions belie his words yet again. By appointing Alberto Gonzales, he is declaring virtual war on our Constitution and our civil rights.
Gonzales pleads for a chance to prove himself. Yet, at every opportunity, his decisions and approach have been contrary to settled law, to fair application of legal authority and to the ideas of fairness and due process. He has had many opportunities to earn the trust, the moral and ethical reputation necessary to sit as the highest legal officer in the country. He has squandered each and every opportunity. We cannot gamble, hoping for a sudden conversion of a person so steeped in unethical and unacceptable actions.
Each time that we have met, I have been impressed by your candor, your honesty and your ability as a US Senator. It is my sincerest plea that you and your partners stand up to this horrible choice and prevent the appointment of Alberto Gonzales from becoming a fact. With sincerest admiration, I remain,
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