Financial Times Editorial Comment:Apologist for the imperial presidency

Financial Times Editorial Comment:Apologist for the imperial presidency
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: March 13 2007 21:52 | Last updated: March 13 2007 21:52



Alberto Gonzales, US attorney-general, has always served one client: President George W. Bush. Such devotion was admirable, so long as Mr Bush was governor of Texas and Mr Gonzales was his in-house lawyer. But as ­attorney-general, he is meant to be the people’s lawyer – not the president’s.

The revelations of the past few days and weeks about the sackings of US prosecutors and violations of US civil liberties by the Federal Bureau of Investigation have amply demonstrated Mr Gonzales’ disdain for the people, the Congress and the justice system that underpins US democracy.

None of this is really surprising: since he became attorney-general in 2005, Mr Gonzales has repeatedly shown a worrisome willingness to do the president’s bidding. He has provided spurious legal justifications for government torture, detentions and surveillance policies, parts of which have been found to violate US and international law and the US constitution.

That is not the way America’s chief legal officer is meant to behave: the attorney-general is no mere political lackey of the White House; his job differs markedly from that of any common-or-garden cabinet officer. Attorneys-general, however close to the president, are supposed to put the cause of justice before the narrow political interests of the man that appointed them. Even Mr Gonzales’ much-reviled predecessor, John Ashcroft, showed more independence from his political masters.

Mr Gonzales has survived several crises over his handling of the war on terror, including a public outcry over warrantless eavesdropping on Americans’ overseas phone calls and e-mails, which ended with him backing down and submitting to oversight by a special court. But the latest crisis, over the political sacking of US prosecutors, shows no signs of dying down.

The White House has admitted that it was behind the sackings and a senior justice department official has fallen on his sword in an apparent attempt to insulate Mr Gonzales from charges that, yet again, he was carrying out a political agenda set by the president, or Karl Rove, the president’s political adviser. But the Democrats, who now hold narrow control of Congress, will not let him off lightly this time. There are calls for his resignation.

Mr Gonzales had every right to sack prosecutors, who are political appointees. But he had no right to mislead Congress about why he did so – even though he is now blaming lower officals for the misinformation. Mr Gonzales has shown a disdain for Congress and the rights of the American people. He has amply proved that he will never be anything other than Mr Bush’s lawyer – a mere apologist for the imperial presidency. The affair has already claimed one top scalp at the justice department. It is high time Mr Gonzales stepped down too.