The endless controversy surrounding the independence of the federal justice system during the Bush years reared its ugly head again last week. The Justice Department’s Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility issued a blistering report concluding that political pressure led to the dismissals of several federal prosecutors in 2006.

As a former assistant U.S. Attorney, it’s disheartening to see how this conduct has damaged the remarkable progress made during the last quarter of the 20th Century to de-politicize the Department of Justice. This progress was reassuring for those us who took pride in the independence we enjoyed from politics and the executive and legislative branches. We felt immune from partisan pressure on employment, policy and prosecutions. Sadly, those principles have taken a severe beating.

The history of the Justice Department has not always valued political independence. As late as the 1970s, many of the 93 United States Attorneys’ Offices continued to hire and fire assistant federal prosecutors on a largely political basis. Offices employed the “broom” policy. A change in the political party in the White House inevitably resulted in the “brooming” out of prosecutors hired under the previous United States Attorney and the consideration. Political connections mattered. After several decades of improvement of this atmosphere, the politicized Bush Justice Department has taken several steps backward, and a result, damaged the public’s trust.

Certainly, for more than a century many effective prosecutors served under this system, but the practical downside was stretches of inefficiency during a political turnover while largely young and inexperienced hires learned the ropes. The terms of these attorneys were usually limited to two or three years. Consequently, a multi-year investigation of a complex federal crime was extremely unlikely, and the great majority of cases involved reactive offenses. The de-politicization of the hiring process not only provided continuity for investigations and prosecutions, but ushered in an era of career prosecutors who developed the expertise to handle increasingly complex cases.

No one expected that this change would affect the selection of United States Attorneys. The Constitution and federal statutes make clear that they are appointed and serve at the pleasure of the President. Still, some recent Presidents have left in place exceptional United States Attorneys appointed by the previous administration. Moreover, the involvement of special search committees has increasingly emphasized experience and competence as important factors in the process.

Even before this week’s report, the Justice Department’s practices were highly suspect. This past July we learned that, contrary to federal law and Justice Department policy, politics had been a primary influence in the hiring of many career prosecutors and immigration judges. An Inspector General’s report found that The Department’s White House liaison officer Monica Goodling used politically based evaluations of the applicants’ Republican and conservative credentials and loyalty to make hiring decisions. Although Ms. Goodling worked out of his office, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez was strangely detached from this activity.

This week’s Inspector General’s report extends this partisan meddling from employment matters to policy and prosecution decisions. Midterm loyalty tests by the political operators of the White House have severely damaged the integrity and credibility of the Justice Department. Their disingenuous explanations and the Attorney General’s seemingly conscious avoidance of the truth has only served to further tarnish the Department’s reputation.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has an opportunity to blunt some of these perceptions and reverse, at least to some extent, the ugly trend toward a return to a politicized Justice Department. The appointment of the well respected federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy to continue the Inspector General’s investigation is a step in the right direction. The Attorney General’s insistence that she have the authority to compel production of White House documents and to subpoena administration officials such as Karl Rove will be critical to this objective.

Whether Attorney General Mukasey fully supports the investigation will go a long way in determining the current credibility of the inspiring words carved on the Justice Department Building that we enjoy a government of laws and not of men:

No Free Government Can Survive that is not

Based on the Supremacy of the Law.

Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins.

Law Alone Can Give us Freedom.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining illegal immigrants in Virginia far too long because, as a judge says, “the system is broken.”

By Nick Miroff and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
WASHINGTON -- Illegal immigrants detained as part of the stepped-up enforcement effort in Virginia stay in the country far longer than they should because of a detention and deportation system beset by waste and dysfunction, according to lawyers, detainee accounts and observations of courtroom proceedings.
Detainees are often held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for weeks, if not months, after they have consented to deportation. Federal officials regularly misplace files or fail to bring detainees to court hearings, resulting in needless additional jail time at taxpayer expense.
In some cases, detainees are transported round trip between Arlington County and jails in central Virginia to appear for a few minutes before an immigration judge via videoconference, even though the immigration court is just down the street in Arlington.
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There’s something to be said for loyalty. Despite his pending indictment on federal public corruption charges,  Rep. William J. Jefferson managed to muster up enough votes Saturday to come in first in the primary. He now faces a runoff in the  November general election. The FBI raided his homes in New Orleans and D.C.  on Aug. 3, 2005. In 2006, he won re-election and several months later he was indicted. He has yet to go to trial.

Rep. Jefferson/official photo

By Kevin McGill
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Rep. William Jefferson overcame the stigma of a federal bribery indictment in Louisiana’s Democratic primary on Saturday, garnering enough votes in his New Orleans-based congressional district to secure a spot in a Nov. 4 runoff.
Jefferson, seeking his 10th term in Congress, faces a December trial on charges that he took bribes, laundered money and misused his congressional office for business dealings in Africa.
With about 72 percent of the vote counted, Jefferson was leading with 25 percent of the vote and appeared headed toward a runoff, most likely with former broadcaster Helena Moreno.
Jefferson sounded confident as he addressed a few dozen family members and supporters at a restaurant in eastern New Orleans. “We look forward to a rigorous campaign but a successful outcome,” Jefferson said.
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Updated Election Story (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

The Politics Of A Unique Contest (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Bolivia President Evo Morales turned up the rhetoric Saturday, telling the DEA that it not only doesn’t need its help fighting drugs but suspects its involved in spying.

By Dan Keane
Associated Press Writer
LA PAZ, Bolivia –President Evo Morales said Saturday that Bolivia does not need U.S. help to control its coca crop, stepping up his anti-Washington rhetoric days after rejecting an American request to fly an anti-drug plane over the South American nation’s territory.
Morales also compared U.S. counter-drug efforts in the country, including Drug Enforcement Administration flights, to espionage.
“It’s important that the international community knows that here, we don’t need control of the United States on coca cultivation,” the president told a gathering of coca farmers. “We can control ourselves internally. We don’t need any spying from anybody.”
U.S. Embassy spokesman Eric Watnik said the DEA makes periodic requests to fly a plane transporting U.S. and Bolivian anti-narcotics personnel around the country. The aircraft is not used for surveillance, he said.
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