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One Year Ago Today, Alberto Gonzales Resigned

One year ago today, Alberto Gonzales resigned as Attorney General of the United States amid questions of his “competence to run the Justice Department” and “accusations of perjury.” As the Washington Post reported at the time, Gonzales was “one of the nation’s most controversial attorneys general since the Watergate era”:

[Gonzales’s] resignation, submitted Sunday to President Bush and disclosed yesterday, removes one of the nation’s most controversial attorneys general since the Watergate era. He will leave behind a Justice Department battered by allegations that partisan politics has infected its law enforcement mission.

Gonzales’ departure from the Bush administration has done little to reverse the well-documented politicization of the Justice Department.

In recent months, his replacement — Micheal Mukasey — has refused to say whether he believes Gonzales politicized the department, has promised not to investigate officials who authorized the use of torture on detainees of the U.S. government, and has refused to review the qualifications of career employees hired by former loyal Bushie Monica Goodling. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said recently, Mukasey “hasn’t provided the balance that I had hoped for.”

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In April, the New York Times reported that Gonzales “has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster” as a result of his performance as Attorney General. Gonzales found work — at least temporarily — in June, when he was hired to “provide assistance to a special master on a patent case.”