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Maybe it is “Legal�, But is it “Right�?

March 29th, 2007 by GARY A. BUTTS

We all know by now that U.S. Attorneys serve at the “pleasure of the president�. In essence, that means the president can fire any of them “at his pleasure� or “at his will�.
 
As this former Bush administration official states:

Eight federal prosecutors were fired last year because they did not sufficiently support President Bush’s priorities, a standard that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ former chief of staff says is legitimate.
 
Kyle Sampson, who quit earlier this month over the furor, disputed Democratic charges that the firings were a purge by intimidation and a warning to the remaining prosecutors to fall in line. Nor, he said, were the prosecutors dismissed to interfere with corruption investigations.
 
“To my knowledge, nothing of the sort occurred here,” Sampson said in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee….
 
He acknowledged planning the firings as much as two years ago with the considered, collective judgment of a number of senior Justice Department officials.
 
However, he denied that the firings were improper, and he spoke dismissively of Democrats’ condemnation of what they call political pressure in the firings.
 
“The distinction between ‘political’ and ‘performance-related’ reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial,” he said. “A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective … is unsuccessful.”

 
But does the fact that something is legal make it “right�? Is that the standard we, as a country, have come to adhere to? As long as we won’t get tossed into jail, it must be OK to do?
 
Sadly, many of today’s leaders have fallen to this level.
 
We can do better. We must do better.
 
More News and Commentary for Moderates
 
“‘Moderate’ is not a 4-letter word.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 29th, 2007 at 8:18 am and is filed under Ideology, Alberto Gonzales, George W. Bush, Congress, Politics, Law & Legal Matters. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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