The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Monday he will vote for a no-confidence resolution against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. 'If you ask Arlen Specter, do I have confidence in Attorney General Gonzales, the answer is a resounding no,' Specter said during a news conference in Philadelphia.
The White House on Sunday dismissed Senate plans to hold a no-confidence vote on the attorney general and said the outcome will not undermine Bush's resolve to keep Alberto Gonzales at the Justice Department.
The Senate will hold a "no confidence" vote on embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this Monday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, announced. In a statement released Friday, Schumer said if all senators followed their conscience, "this vote would be unanimous."
VP Cheney blocked the promotion of a Justice Dept official involved in a bedside standoff over Bush's eavesdropping program, a Senate committee learned Wed. In a written account, former Deputy AG James Comey said Cheney warned AG Alberto Gonzales that he would oppose the promotion of a dept official who once threatened to resign over the program.
Minnesota case fits pattern in attorneys flap

For more than 15 years, Tom Heffelfinger was the embodiment of a tough Republican prosecutor. So it came as a surprise, and something of a mystery, when he turned up on a list of U.S. attorneys who had been targeted for firing. Part of the reason, government documents suggest, is that he tried to protect voting rights for Native Americans.
While the political world obsesses over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can survive the outcry over the politically motivated dismissal of eight US Attorneys, the legal academy has been debating a different aspect of the fallout: Could a case be made that the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States should be disbarred?
Inquiry widens into Justice Department hiring

The Justice Department has broadened an internal investigation into whether aides to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales improperly took into account political considerations in hiring employees, officials familiar with the probe said Thursday.
The Justice Department considered political affiliation in screening applicants for immigration court judgeships for several years until hiring was frozen in December after objections from department lawyers, current and former officials said yesterday.
A former aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress on Wednesday she "crossed the line" by letting politics influence the Justice Department's hiring process.
Sponsors
More tags
News Politics bush congress law senator vote GOP house cheney FBI charges scandal U.S. arizona torture president investigation DOJ administration 1984 partisan attorneys impeachment minnesota Gonzales ACT diversity wiretapping Conservatives attorney prosecutors Tobacco resignation justice general guantanamo u federal us reunion testimony david james thomas of nancy pelosi white Rendition Chuck no Robert Tom s john Department continue Patrick schumer emails lindsey confidence Rove Extraordinary Leahy Karl Graham Warrantless J. Fitzgerald rick carol harriet patriot domestic Miers monica Lam Firings C. eight Iglesias Mueller arlen gonzalez Sununu slammed Shumer Gonazles Subpoenas specter Goodling Domenici prosecutor Partison Renzi Heffelfinger Dept. Comey
Monica Goodling capped her testimony today by recalling her last conversation with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and saying she felt uncomfortable when Gonzales began recalling for her his understanding of the process that led to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year.
The top Republican on the Senate committee investigating Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes Gonzales could step down before a no-confidence vote sought this week by Senate Democrats.
"In the off chance there is anyone out there who continues to harbor doubts as to whether Alberto Gonzales is a liar, I present you with a rather blatant example of the man's dishonesty that, for reasons I can't quite understand, doesn't seem to have been reported anywhere."
The image I can't get out of my head is of Alberto Gonzales carrying a document for Ashcroft's signature into the man's hospital room, attempting a sneaky end-run around the deputy whom Ashcroft left in charge of the department, knowing full well that Ashcroft was seriously ill and almost certainly medicated. Would he guide the man's hand?
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says his long friendship with President Bush makes it easier to say "no" to him on sticky legal issues. His critics, however, say Gonzales is far more likely to say "yes" ΓΆβ;¬" leaving the Justice Department vulnerable to a politically determined White House.
Even as he came under renewed political pressure this week, Alberto Gonzales faced sharp criticism from many of his own US attorneys at a private meeting in San Antonio. Over a dozen US attorneys spoke during the morning session, most of them expressing concern about the scandal's impact on their own offices and the overall image of the department.
A U.S. attorney in Florida whose name appeared on a Justice Department firing list received commendations from the Justice Department and White House even as he was being targeted for removal. Gregory Miller said Friday that the awards and praise he'd received showed that his job performance couldn't have caused him to be targeted for dismissal.
Rep. Artur Davis, a Democrat from Mobile, said Friday he is pushing for a "no confidence" vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Davis and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., both former federal prosecutors, said they would introduce the symbolic resolution urging Gonzales' resignation on Monday. Two Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, said earlier this week they would offer a similar resolution stating that Gonzales was too weakened to remain on the job.
Anyone who does not understand why Congress is insisting on getting rid of Gonzales, does not appreciate the important and sensitive role the Department of Justice has in our government.
As the U.S. attorney general recovers from surgery, a White House lawyer heads to his hospital room to get the AG's signature on a form authorizing continued electronic surveillance of Americans suspected of terrorist ties. But the president's lawyer is foiled by the acting attorney general, who makes it to his boss' bedside first.
Justice weighed firing 26 attorneys

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
Senators Schumer, Feingold, Kennedy and Durbin are curious as to why it seems that Alberto Gonzalez lied about whether or not their was concern in the Dept. of Justice over the legality of Bush's domestic wiretap programming run out of NSA.
Alberto Gonzales came under renewed pressure Wednesday, as a 3rd senator called for his resignation and Democrats challenged his truthfulness about President Bush's no-warrant eavesdropping program.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he relied heavily on his deputy to oversee the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing to distance himself from his departing second-in-command.
If the House Judiciary Committee session Thursday starring Alberto Gonzales produced few revelations about the suspicious dismissal of eight (or nine or more) U.S. attorneys, the hearing did clarify a critical political reality. No matter how discredited he is, this attorney general will not resign.
The evidence from the Senate investigation of the unprecedented firing of 8 U.S. attorneys shows an attorney general whose misjudgments are profound, and who is complicit in the greatest politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice since the Nixon administration. Here are some of the particulars of why Alberto Gonzales should go.
A former West Virginia federal prosecutor said Friday the White House fired him in 2005 in the middle of a corruption and vote-buying investigation but never told him why. Karl K. "Kasey" Warner said he has "concerns" and sees parallels between himself and eight other ousted U.S. attorneys.
Two former U.S. attorneys said today they believe ongoing investigations into the dismissals last year of eight federal prosecutors could result in criminal charges against senior Justice Department officials.
If the White House did nothing improper in the controversial firing of eight U.S. Attorneys last year, why would top officials in the Justice Department, perhaps including Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, have tried to conceal its role in the dismissals?
It is long past time for President Bush to fire Mr. Gonzales. But Congress, especially the Republicans who have dared confront the White House on this issue, should not be satisfied with that. There are strong indications that the purge was ordered out of the White House, involving at the very least the former counsel, Harriet Miers, and Karl Rove.
The House Judiciary Committee will summon Attorney General Alberto Gonzales next week to answer fresh charges stemming from the failure of the Justice Department's civil rights division to hire more minorities.





