Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Lamentations and Retributions

An article in the Washington Post states that a Department of Justice investigation has determined that promotions in the Civil Rights division were affected by ideological considerations. As the article puts it:

"...a politically appointed official sought to hire "real Americans" and Republicans for career posts and prominent case assignments ...'

The article says that they will seek to follow up on these actions where they were done in contravention of the law. I wish them luck. In the light of Alberto Gonzales tenure there, which destroyed much of the professional caste, as well as Obama's apparent feeling that there would be very little upside to prosecutions for any but the most egregious of Bush Administration actions, I'll be a little surprised if anything comes of it. I'd much rather see tarring and feathering of, say, Cheney... but I guess that won't happen, either. But hey, all is not lost. The current Attorney General has undone some of that, and, as a Justice Department spokesman said -

"As a result of these reforms, and the procedures already in place for evaluating the work and conduct of lawyers throughout the Department, we are confident that the institutional problems identified in today's report no longer exist and will not recur"

Certainly, we can hope. Quis custodiet, etc....

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, I think there will be some prosecutions. Obama can't really say "we're going after the blighters!", so he does his reassurance thing. And Holder can ignore that any way he pleases.

But I don't think Cheney or Bush (or Rumsfeld) will be prosecuted: oddly enough, they have enough political immunity that to jail them would be counter-productive. But I'm definitely expecting some prosecutions. (I've changed my mind on this issue, by the way. I used to say "move on"; now I don't think we can move on unless there is some accountability.)

Carolyn Ann

Cerulean Bill said...

The problem is that 'accountability' from one direction is viewed as 'vindictiveness' from the other.

The mailroom clerk, he's the one, he did it, jail HIM.