1 Boring Old Man

Bush May Fight for New Attorney General
^{President Seeks Agreement With Policies}

A half-dozen or so lawyers are being discussed among administration officials as possible candidates to replace Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, but no clear favorite has emerged, and President Bush is willing to fight for the right candidate, administration officials and Republican advisers said yesterday.

Democratic Senate leaders have called on the White House to consult them closely during the selection process, but administration officials warned yesterday that the president intends to nominate an attorney general who agrees with his policies. "It is the president’s prerogative to appoint someone who shares his views," a senior administration official said.

The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual
Aristotle, 350 B.C.

The Law is a collection of the rules of conduct set down in a society’s founding, and the history of the interpretation of these rules over time. It’s the wisdom of the ‘past’ speaking to the ‘present.’ In free societies, the law attempts to balance the rights of individuals with the rights of society as a whole. So ‘Justice is blind’ – meaning that the law is applied equally to all people, not tailored to fit the needs of any given person or group. A society is literally defined by its laws.

For six and a half years, we’ve labored under a government which does not believe in that view of our society or its laws. They’ve repeatedly said in one way or another that the Executive Branch is the government – above or outside the laws that have traditionally governed us. They’ve repeatedly claimed that the actions of the Executive Branch are not subject to the scrutiny that holds for the rest of us. We’ve recently had a crisis in the Agency responsible for enforcing our laws – a crisis that has resulted in mass resignations either in protest or to escape being called to task for breaking the very laws it is charged with enforcing.