Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority

OKgrannie · 03-20-07, 01:24 PM

It's a GOOD thing to limit the administration's "unilateral" powers.

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority - Yahoo! News

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority By PETE YOST and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers
15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Amid calls from lawmakers in both parties to resign, Gonzales got a morale boost with an early-morning call from President Bush, their first conversation since a week ago, when the president said he was unhappy with how the Justice Department handled the firings.

With a 94-2 vote, the Senate passed a bill that canceled a Justice Department-authored provision in the Patriot Act that had allowed the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation. Democrats say the Bush administration abused that authority when it fired the eight prosecutors and proposed replacing some with White House loyalists.

"If you politicize the prosecutors, you politicize everybody in the whole chain of law enforcement," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt.

danarhea · 03-20-07, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OKgrannie

It's a GOOD thing to limit the administration's "unilateral" powers.

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority - Yahoo! News

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority By PETE YOST and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers
15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Amid calls from lawmakers in both parties to resign, Gonzales got a morale boost with an early-morning call from President Bush, their first conversation since a week ago, when the president said he was unhappy with how the Justice Department handled the firings.

With a 94-2 vote, the Senate passed a bill that canceled a Justice Department-authored provision in the Patriot Act that had allowed the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation. Democrats say the Bush administration abused that authority when it fired the eight prosecutors and proposed replacing some with White House loyalists.

"If you politicize the prosecutors, you politicize everybody in the whole chain of law enforcement," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt.

It's good to see Republicans crossing party lines on this one.

BWG · 03-20-07, 02:06 PM

http://www.debatepolitics.com/breaki...tml#post510837 (Gonzales Says ‘Mistakes Were Made’ in Firing of Prosecutors)

Trajan Octavian Titus · 03-20-07, 02:28 PM

Good to see everyone agrees that a gross violation of the separation of powers if perfectly legitimate, WTF don't you people get about the President being able to fire any U.S. attorney, at any time, for any reason? GWB needs to grow a pair and tell congress to go fuc/k themselves, claim executive privilege, that not one member of his administration will set foot in front of a grand jury, and that Leahy can shove any supboena direcly up his as$.

jallman · 03-20-07, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trajan Octavian Titus

Good to see everyone agrees that a gross violation of the separation of powers if perfectly legitimate, WTF don't you people get about the President being able to fire any U.S. attorney, at any time, for any reason? GWB needs to grow a pair and tell congress to go fuc/k themselves, claim executive privilege, that not one member of his administration will set foot in front of a grand jury, and that Leahy can shove any supboena direcly up his as$.

You can mark this down as the day we agree in both ideology and the rhetoric used to get that ideology across.

Binary_Digit · 03-20-07, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trajan Octavian Titus

Good to see everyone agrees that a gross violation of the separation of powers if perfectly legitimate, WTF don't you people get about the President being able to fire any U.S. attorney, at any time, for any reason? GWB needs to grow a pair and tell congress to go fuc/k themselves, claim executive privilege, that not one member of his administration will set foot in front of a grand jury, and that Leahy can shove any supboena direcly up his as$.

This seems to pertain more to hiring U.S. attorneys than firing them. Sure he can fire them for any reason, but hiring them used to require Senate approval and now it requires Senate approval again. What's wrong with that? Have I missed something?

Trajan Octavian Titus · 03-20-07, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Binary_Digit

This seems to pertain more to hiring U.S. attorneys than firing them. Sure he can fire them for any reason, but hiring them used to require Senate approval and now it requires Senate approval again. What's wrong with that? Have I missed something?

Nothing, I'm just bitching, I want to slap Schumer right up his dumb as$ head.

Binary_Digit · 03-20-07, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trajan Octavian Titus

Nothing, I'm just bitching, I want to slap Schumer right up his dumb as$ head.

...

Iriemon · 03-20-07, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trajan Octavian Titus

Good to see everyone agrees that a gross violation of the separation of powers if perfectly legitimate, WTF don't you people get about the President being able to fire any U.S. attorney, at any time, for any reason? GWB needs to grow a pair and tell congress to go fuc/k themselves, claim executive privilege, that not one member of his administration will set foot in front of a grand jury, and that Leahy can shove any supboena direcly up his as$.

And then maybe he can call off the elections in 2008 as well. Who needs the nuisance and there is a chance one of those traitorous Democrats could get elected.

Trajan Octavian Titus · 03-20-07, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iriemon

And then maybe he can call off the elections in 2008 as well. Who needs the nuisance and there is a chance one of those traitorous Democrats could get elected.

Again good to see that you support a gross violation of the separation of powers.