Alberto Gonzales:
There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There is a prohibition against taking it away.
...

The Constitution doesn’t say, “Every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas.” It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended...

Habeas corpus isn't what you think it is, according to the Worst Attorney General EVER.

Double-think to make George Orwell proud -- "Two plus two make five." Freaking scary. I mean it.

Gonzales said, "I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility."

One wonders what he thinks the mistakes were? Getting caught? Not firing more?

And one wonders what "accepting responsibility" means in this administration? Doing it better next time (ie: not getting caught)? My guess is that Gonzales is on the fast track for a Freedom Medal...

Nat

WASHINGTON -- As midterm elections approached last November, federal investigators in Arizona faced unexpected obstacles in getting needed Justice Department approvals to advance a corruption investigation of Republican Rep. Rick Renzi, people close to the case said.
[Alberto Gonzales]

The delays, which postponed key approvals in the case until after the election, raise new questions about whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or other officials may have weighed political issues in some investigations. The Arizona U.S. attorney then overseeing the case, Paul Charlton, was told he was being fired in December, one of eight federal prosecutors dismissed in the past year. The dismissals have triggered a wave of criticism and calls from Congress for Mr. Gonzales to resign.

Investigators pursuing the Renzi case had been seeking clearance from senior Justice Department officials on search warrants, subpoenas and other legal tools for a year before the election, people close to the case said.
***
People briefed on the case said investigators in Arizona asked Washington for clearance -- among other tools -- for a wiretap of Mr. Renzi's telephones, a highly unusual step against a sitting member of Congress, months before Election Day. The wiretap eventually was approved, and was in place by late October, these people said.

On Oct. 26, just days before the election, two political Web sites carried the first public word of the probe. In subsequent news accounts, an unidentified Washington law-enforcement official described the matter as "preliminary." Few details emerged, but the leak disrupted prosecutors' wiretap.

Meanwhile, Mr. Renzi, first elected to Congress in 2002, was fighting to hold on to his seat. In September, President Bush hosted a fund-raiser in Scottsdale on his behalf. About the same time Mr. Charlton was added to a list of prosecutors "we should now consider pushing out," wrote Mr. Gonzales's then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, in a Sept. 13, 2006, email to then-White House counsel Harriet Miers. The email is among thousands that the Justice Department has released in response to congressional inquiries into the dismissal of the U.S. attorneys.

In November, Mr. Renzi won re-election to a third term, beating his challenger by 51% to 44%. A month later, on Dec. 7, Mr. Charlton was told he was being dismissed. Two weeks later, he emailed William Mercer, a senior Justice Department official: "Media now asking if I was asked to resign over leak in Congressman Renzi investigation." He asked for advice, but never got a response, according to the emails released by the Justice Department.
***
Mr. Charlton, a Republican with 16 years as a federal prosecutor, was named by President Bush in 2001 to lead the Phoenix office. Now in private practice in Phoenix, he has refused to discuss any details of the Renzi investigation -- even when asked about it at a March 6 hearing of the House judiciary committee.

Could we possibly have a no-confidence vote in our favorite Attorney General? I don't exactly agree with this vote, but not for the reasons one might think.

Alberto Gonzales is the gift that keeps on giving. His incompetence and close ties to the White House are likely to produce scandal after scandal. The best part is that any logical, rational human being would cut ties to such stupidity, just to save one's self. Bush, however, isn't known for being quite so logical. So, now we have Alberto Gonzales, scandal-maker, the gift that keeps on giving.

Just out of curiosity....what would happen if both Bush and Cheney were impeached, not that this would ever happen. Pelosi becomes President right? What about the VP position? Does she get to appoint someone, like happened with Ford, or is there an automatic successor now.

Shove the fudge up?

Remember the great job he did questioning the veracity of Anita Hill and compare that to his questioning of Alberto Gonzales. With Hill he was a biting pit bull, with Gonzales more a barking Doberman.

I'll bet he's going to "spend more time with his family"...

Remember, Alberto was once on the rumored short list of potential nominees, much to the dismay of the social conservatives and most other right-wingers.