Mukasey Won't Enforce the Law -- Again
Once again, Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey has announced that he will not be enforcing the law. Taking another “let-bygones-be-bygones” approach, he told the American Bar Assn. yesterday that he's not going to bother prosecuting anyone in the Justice Dept. for illegally hiring career government lawyers based on political considerations rather than merit.
That’s the second time in recent weeks that Mukasey has insisted that the law need not be enforced. In June, he confirmed in writing that he has no plans to investigate whether senior Bush administration officials broke the law in authorizing the torture and inhumane treatment of terror suspects.
Despite his protests that “not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime,” as he told the ABA yesterday, it’s an odd position for the nation’s leading law enforcement officer to be taking. After all, whether senior government officials authorized and directed others to break the law -- either in the treatment of prisoners or the hiring of government officials -- goes to the very heart of the integrity of the federal government. Can the chief prosecutor really claim that others ought to abide by the law when he gives a pass to his own colleagues?
When he was nominated, Mukasey was considered a strong bipartisan candidate, someone who commanded respect for his 18 years as a federal judge. But supporters neglected to mention that he had left that esteemed $165,000-a-year position to return to private practice defending white-collar criminals -- so that he could earn more than a million dollars a year at the New York law firm Patterson Belknap, where he represented clients like Goldman Sachs and former Enron chief Kenneth Lay.
In his official role as attorney general, Mukasey is the chief legal officer of the United States and also a legal adviser of the executive branch. His primary responsibility is supposed to be to represent the nation. Yet, once again in his career, Mukasey appears to prefer the position of defender of a powerful client rather than enforcer of the law. That may work out well for his return to a corporate legal job in the long run -- but it creates a serious problem for the rest of the country today.
Comments:
Posted 08/13/2008 04:00pm with
He really said not every violation of the law is a crime?
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crime
“an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law”
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I’m reading “not following the law is a crime”. Let me know if I am wrong.
Posted 08/13/2008 05:24pm with
That is what he said. “[N]ot every… violation of the law, is a crime.” Let that one sink in. Just knowing that some underlings hired possibly unqualified, but sufficiently conservative, attorneys to career positions is punishment enough. Oh, and those politically impure candidates may reapply.
The consigliere has spoken. He will not enforce the law, and he said it directly to the ABA. What are they going to do? Disbar him?
Thanks, Schumer and DiFi. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you two were Republicans.
Posted 08/13/2008 09:04pm with
political expediency takes precedence over the law. How unfortunate and discouraging for all of us who have to watch and cannot do n=anything about it
Posted 08/16/2008 08:16pm with
Very sad state of affairs… great article!
Posted 08/20/2008 07:52am with
if americans haven’t notice,we are living in a lawless time, in a lawless country. when you have millions of people come into a country without authorization, (illegally)oops, i mean undocumented and millions of americans sit on their a** and do nothing, when you have a court system that misue the so called judicial process, (practice of law) to dismantle a state retired supreme court judge of his life,liberty and property,without due process, when you have double standards in a country that was built on double standards, what else are you supposed to expect.there’s an old saying,when you constantly do the same thing and expect different results you are either crazy or a fool.which one are you?. america, once again,AMERICA, was built on double standards,ask the american katrina victims. stop acting like you don’t know.we all know. even the foreigners know.why do you think they’re here and not by invitation only.so don’t beat up on muskasey he’s only doing what comes nat u ral. never leave home without it.the guide to double standards 101.