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Heymann and Fried on the U.S. Attorney Controversy
Sean McDonnell
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: News
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While it remains to be seen whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee can serve to blunt the firestorm surrounding the Bush administration over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, earlier this week many at Harvard Law School were not waiting to reserve judgment.
The growing investigation surrounding the U.S. Attorneys, who have alleged they were improperly dismissed for political reasons, has garnered significant attention at Harvard. The most serious charges allege political pressure on federal prosecutors to pursue cases against Democrats and abandon cases against Republicans.
Professors Philip Heymann and Charles Fried wrote competing assessments of the dismissals which appeared on Harvard's website earlier this month. In a lecture sponsored by the HLS Democrats on April 8, Heymann told the roughly 50 students in attendance at Pound Hall that Gonzalez had much to answer for.
"There's no excuse for anybody bringing a case unless they think they are going to get a conviction," Heymann said. "It's not like a shootout. It's not the Wild West. That means that it's impossible for the Attorney General to complain about individual cases that weren't brought unless the Attorney General looked at the facts and concluded that the evidence was there."
Heymann served as Assistant Attorney General, the second-highest ranking official in the Justice Department, during the Clinton administration.
"Since 1976 attorney generals have announced priorities," Heymann said. "Neither immigration crimes nor voter fraud (which prosecutors were pressured to pursue against Democrats) were among the six announced by the Attorney General. That will make it a little embarrassing for Attorney General Gonzalez when he says that the U.S. Attorneys were fired for ignoring the President's priorities. He never announced his priorities."
The dismissals and allegations raised many questions about how political or independent U.S. Attorneys, who are appointed by the President, should be. The line between acceptable agenda setting and improper political pressure is often nebulous.
The growing investigation surrounding the U.S. Attorneys, who have alleged they were improperly dismissed for political reasons, has garnered significant attention at Harvard. The most serious charges allege political pressure on federal prosecutors to pursue cases against Democrats and abandon cases against Republicans.
Professors Philip Heymann and Charles Fried wrote competing assessments of the dismissals which appeared on Harvard's website earlier this month. In a lecture sponsored by the HLS Democrats on April 8, Heymann told the roughly 50 students in attendance at Pound Hall that Gonzalez had much to answer for.
"There's no excuse for anybody bringing a case unless they think they are going to get a conviction," Heymann said. "It's not like a shootout. It's not the Wild West. That means that it's impossible for the Attorney General to complain about individual cases that weren't brought unless the Attorney General looked at the facts and concluded that the evidence was there."
Heymann served as Assistant Attorney General, the second-highest ranking official in the Justice Department, during the Clinton administration.
"Since 1976 attorney generals have announced priorities," Heymann said. "Neither immigration crimes nor voter fraud (which prosecutors were pressured to pursue against Democrats) were among the six announced by the Attorney General. That will make it a little embarrassing for Attorney General Gonzalez when he says that the U.S. Attorneys were fired for ignoring the President's priorities. He never announced his priorities."
The dismissals and allegations raised many questions about how political or independent U.S. Attorneys, who are appointed by the President, should be. The line between acceptable agenda setting and improper political pressure is often nebulous.
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Be Fair
posted 4/25/07 @ 2:34 AM EST
Attorney General Gonzales rode in to town to take on 8 bandito Attorney generals that weren't the type law enforcers that we wanted. So all alone our Lone Ranger Gonzales took out the pen and like a pistol in hand ridded us of the bad bandito attorney generals that were wrong for our country. (Continued…)
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