Gonzales bypasses Senate, appoints interim U.S. attorney.
This morning, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) “revealed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again used an interim appointment authority at the heart of the US Attorneys controversy that Congress banned in a bill sent to the President for signature on June 4.” In a statement to Raw Story, Leahy’s spokeswoman explained what happened:
“It just so happens the committee got notice yesterday, that on June 16, George Cardona’s 210 days as Acting U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California will have run out and the Attorney General will appoint him as an interim U.S. Attorney at that time. (i.e. still using the end-run authority because Bush has slow-walked signing the bill).”
Cardona replaced former U.S. attorney Debra Wong Yang, who at one point had been named for firing by Harriet Miers before resigning to join a corporate law firm.
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54 Responses to “Gonzales bypasses Senate, appoints interim U.S. attorney.”
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For the latest news, document dumps, email archives, hearing transcripts and other essential materials in the firings of U.S. attorneys, see:
June 14th, 2007 at 3:42 pm“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Resource Center.”
Gonzales lies to Congress, January 18th, 2007:
June 14th, 2007 at 3:43 pmI am fully committed, as the administration’s fully committed, to ensure that, with respect to every United States attorney position in this country, we will have a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed United States attorney.”
OUTSTANDING!!!!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:44 pmIs this a law? Isn’t it like 10 days without a signature and it becomes law?
June 14th, 2007 at 3:45 pmNow can we impeach Gonzo?
June 14th, 2007 at 3:46 pmThe bill was sent for the president’s signature on June 4. Do you mean that he hasn’t signed it yet? Let me guess: Barney ate it.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:46 pmI just can’t believe it. Two things blow me away about this story.
1) The AJs and the White House’s basic lack of sensitivity to this whole situation.
2) The fact that a the president can have a bill for something approaching two weeks and neither sign it nor veto it. I mean really, it blows me away.
I love the information provided on this site. But sometimes I don’t think it is good for my blood pressure.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:48 pmRUCerious,
10 days and it becomes veto actually. It’s called a pocket veto.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:50 pmSo what are the Democrats going to DO about this? Whine?
How about taking the administration to court saying that their actions are in violation of the Constitution. Screw the Patriot Act.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:50 pmGood. The White House is ignoring the Congress just as we should.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:50 pmF*ck you, America. We do exactly what we want, when we want to.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:51 pmLiar, liar, pants on fire!!!
Thes people simply have no shame. They’re daring Congress to do something about it. “C’mon, knock that chip off my shoulder, c’mon….” Go for it, Reid and Pelosi. You won’t best these azos by wimping out.
Cheers,
June 14th, 2007 at 3:51 pmI just can’t believe it. Two things blow me away about this story.
1) The AJs and the White House’s basic lack of sensitivity to this whole situation.
2) The fact that a the president can have a bill for something approaching two weeks and neither sign it nor veto it. I mean really, it blows me away.
Comment by Mittop
Doesn’t surprise me in the least.
They have to have control over the DOJ so that they suspend elections, and pull the trigger to turn this country into a dictatorship, sometime next year, they will have nothing but cronies in place to help them pass it through.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:51 pmCrump, that’s only true if the congress is adjourned, which it isn’t.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:52 pmIt’s a law, effective today.
The Yang thing is a whack story. Investigates Jerry Lewis, drawing Miers’ et al’s ire, then goes to work for the firm that’s defending him? She’s recused herself but man does it look so wrong.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:53 pmThes people simply have no shame. They’re daring Congress to do something about it. “C’mon, knock that chip off my shoulder, c’mon….†Go for it, Reid and Pelosi. You won’t best these azos by wimping out.
Comment by Arne Langsetmo
Once again, you poor people are under the mistaken impression that there is any difference between the 2 parties.
They both work together for the greater glory of their own elite class, not ours. They are 2 sides of the same coin.
WAKE UP ALREADY!
June 14th, 2007 at 3:54 pmSo, what are you going to do about this? Nothing as usual.
I would have some respect for you if you even put up a decent fight, but no, You’re just caving in.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:54 pmWe will see last ditch efforts, one right after another, as George, Dick and Gonzo “sprint to the finish line” of their time left in office.
Right now they are being forced to look back over their shoulders at the tsunami of their own corruption, looming over them.
And, as any runner knows, the moment you look back at your pursuer, you’ve lost.
Heh heh heh…..
June 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pmWhy shouldn’t Abu G and Chimpy pretend like nothing is wrong? It’s not like they’ve been faced with any real consequences. When Leahy gets his butt in gear and bares some teeth, then maybe Chimpy will pay attention. Until then, he’s just gonna keep playing in his sandbox without realizing that the cat is using it for a litter box when he’s not looking.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pmjpv follow your own advice.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pmFrom US Constitution Online
Alternately, the President can sit on the bill, taking no action on it at all. If the President takes no action at all, and ten days passes (not including Sundays), the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. However, if the Congress has adjourned before the ten days passes and without a Presidential signature, the bill fails. This is known as a pocket veto.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pmWhile I don’t agree with this end-run provision, I am hardly shocked by the utter disdain the AG and WH have for the right of the Legislative Branch to “advise and consent” on such nominations….I am surprised, however, that Mr. Cardona’s bio indicates a track record as a D.A. and Assistant U.S. Attorney and 20 years of law practice, and that he graduated from Yale rather than some BibleSchool posing as a Law school. Hallelujah! Someone who may actually be qualified, and not simply on the basis of his “bushie” rating or his pentecostal credentials.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:56 pmRUCerious,
I stand corrected. However, he does not have to count Sundays, so he does one more day. It’s ten days minus any Sundays.
June 14th, 2007 at 3:56 pmHow can it be an interim appointment if Congress is in session?
June 14th, 2007 at 3:59 pmOK, so it’s law tomorrow. But that means that AVO5’s appt occurred before the enactment.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:00 pmJust another reason to impeach!
#24…
Interim appointment means “placeholder”
Recess appointment is what the pResident does when Congress is out in the playground on the teeter totters.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:05 pmGood. The White House is ignoring the Congress just as we should.
Comment by MAF54
What? (head spinning) Effing what?
June 14th, 2007 at 4:22 pmI can’t keep up. Is it this episode that we find out who shot J.R., or do we have to wait until next season?
June 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pmWhy would Democrat impeach Bush or Gonzo?? I say leave them in place and sun the light on this administration. If americans can’t see that republicans are lairs and crooks then and deserve what happens to us. NEVER AGAIN ELECT A REPUBLICAN!!! They hate government, they hate it. It gets in the way of their ability to steal and pollute.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pmI swear to God, if this country is stupid enough to elect a Republican as president, I will cash in all my retirement accounts and go find a saner place to live. If deliberate subversion of the Constitution is not enough to wake up the populace, I give up. America is gone, and the Homeland replaces it.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:39 pmSen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) “revealed that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again used an interim appointment authority at the heart of the US Attorneys controversy that Congress banned in a bill sent to the President for signature on June 4.â€
Once again?…
I don’t know what’s worse, Gonzales using an interim appointment authority AGAIN, or Leahy whining and doing nothing about it.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:39 pmSo, what are you going to do about this? Nothing as usual.
I would have some respect for you if you even put up a decent fight, but no, You’re just caving in.
Comment by MAF54 — June 14, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
So, former Congressman Foley, what would you suggest be done about it?
June 14th, 2007 at 4:40 pmGood. The White House is ignoring the Congress just as we should.
Comment by MAF54 — June 14, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
This comment advocates that the White House systematically and deliberately violate the Constitution of the United States, which the president swore an oath to uphold.
No respect for the rule of law. No moral compass.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:46 pmI am at a loss. How could they possibly do that, with all of this shitstorm all around them?
June 14th, 2007 at 4:55 pmWell Sen. Leahy > are you going to call for Gonzales to be impeached? Or just be indignant about it and do nothing?
June 14th, 2007 at 5:13 pmIs my memory failing me here?
I thought that I remembered a few weeks ago when AG Gonzales stated, under oath, in front of either the Senate or House panels, that they never would use that provision to circumvent the advise & consent provision.
Why doesn’t Leahy simply drag his butt back in front of the panel and confront him on it?
Couldn’t he hold him in contempt of Congress?
June 14th, 2007 at 5:14 pmSo, what are you going to do about this? Nothing as usual.
I would have some respect for you if you even put up a decent fight, but no, You’re just caving in.
Comment by MAF54 — June 14, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Here pedophile worshiper, let me fix this for you.
So, what are the Democrats going to do about this? Nothing as usual.
I would have some respect for the Democrats if the Democrats even put up a decent fight, but no, the Democratsare just caving in.
Comment by MAF54 — June 14, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
June 14th, 2007 at 5:40 pmIf the bill hasn’t been signed in 10 days, it becomes law, unless Congress was in recess.
That would mean the bill becomes law today.
I don’t remember Congress being in recess. If so, then Gonzo can’t appoint him on the 16th.
Am I missing something? Was Congress in recess btwn the 4th and today?
It certainly doesn’t appear that it was
http://www.senate.gov/ pagelayout/ legislative/ two_column_table/ 2007_Schedule.htm
http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml
June 14th, 2007 at 5:44 pmA little know fact is that a bill will become law if the president doesn’t sign in it 10 business days. Bush is obviously stalling on this, but if he doesn’t sign the bill, it will become law anyway without his signature.
If any Dem says Alberto’s a “good guy”, they should have a lobotomy.
June 14th, 2007 at 5:59 pmIt’s 10 days excluding Sundays.
So it hit Bush’s desk on Monday, June 4, and there has been 1 Sunday (June 10). The 10th day is tomorrow, June 15.
Bush has 10 days to sign it or veto it, and after 10 days without a signature or veto, it becomes law. That means it becomes law on June 16.
According to all news reports at the time this little known provision in the Patriot Act came to light, Bush’s and Gonzales’ statements have been that the administration never intended to use the little known slip-in to the Patriot Act to avoid Senate confirmation, and would, of course, cooperate with Congress in removing the provision.
If Raw Story’s report is accurate, what pisses me off about the Democrats is how low-key they are in exposing the lies and corruption of the Bush administration. If Leahy is right and Gonzales intends to use the provision to get around Senate confirmation (and what other reason could there be for Bush not having signed this legislation by now?), Democrats ought to be taking to microphones all over the Capitol and hold this up as “Just one more example….”
It’s because of Democrats’ failure to play hardball with Republicans, by making use of the many examples of Bush-Cheney corruption that come to light that the Rush Limbaughs and Hannitys can lie to audiences, and why we are forever playing defense, trying to convince that 29% who still love Bush and vote Republican that it’s us who are the good guys.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:57 pmI thought the law that Bush is refusing to sign would remove any USAs put in place by the patriot act provision. For example, I understood that Tim Griffin would be removed once the law went into effect and that is why he resigned. Is this not true?
June 14th, 2007 at 7:59 pmIt would seem that this new appointment would be null and void once the new law went into affect.
While I don’t agree with this end-run provision, I am hardly shocked by the utter disdain the AG and WH have for the right of the Legislative Branch to “advise and consent†on such nominations
With this Congress stalling nomination after nomination, perhaps they’re the ones showing utter disdain towards the right of the Executive Branch to nominate.
June 14th, 2007 at 8:59 pmThank you Gonzo! Please make 20 or so more recess appointments before the law goes into effect.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:03 pm#28, Fed. No this is the episode that Bobby wakes up and we find out that all these years of Bushco have all been a dream.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:14 pmWordPress database error: [Table ‘wp_comments’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired]
June 14th, 2007 at 9:16 pmSELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_ID = ‘3858733′ LIMIT 1
I’m investing in Ammunition. Words mean nothing. The Law means nothing. Time for a REAL change.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:19 pmWhat recourse do the American people have when there is no justice, no rule of Law, and no due process? I don’t know about you but, I’m investing in Ammunition.
June 14th, 2007 at 9:21 pmUpdate
June 14th, 2007 at 9:21 pmBush signed the bill into law today
http://thomas.loc.gov/ cgi-bin/ bdquery/ z?d110:s.00214:
Not sure what this means in reference to this appointment
…definitely!
June 14th, 2007 at 9:22 pmUpdate #2
June 14th, 2007 at 9:33 pmIf I am reading the law correctly this appointment expires in 120 days so he won’t be there much longer.
Troll m12 is a freaking moron.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:11 pmCut these bastard’s funding…
…shut this mutha-fu*ka DOWN…
June 14th, 2007 at 11:41 pmUn-f’n-real.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:02 pmif Congress is in session (not recessed) a bill becomes a law after 10 days if the president doesn’t sign it. If Congress is recessed, it becomes vetoed after 10 days (pocket veto)
June 15th, 2007 at 5:14 pm