Department of Justice investigates Torture Alum
The Senate Judiciary Committee released a letter Thursday indicating that the Department of Justice will investigate whether DOJ head Alberto Gonzales tried to bias the testimony of his former aide Monica Goodling’s testimony before Congress about the firing of U.S. Attorneys.
Monica Goodling, Gonzales’s former White House liaison, told Congress last month that the attorney general “made me a little uncomfortable” when he asked about her recollection of events leading up to some of the dismissals.
Harvard Alum (’79, HLS ’82) Glenn A. Fine, the DOJ Inspector General, joined Head of the DOJ Office of Professional Repsponsibility H. Marshall Jarrett in a reply to the Judiciary Committee that this would be investigated.
Earlier this year the OPR attempted to investigate the role of DOJ lawyers in crafting the National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping program. The investigation was closed when OPR was denied the necessary security clearances. According to Torture Alum, the President personally made the decision.
Tearing up the pea patch?
My thesis advisor grew up in Opelousas, Louisiana1. They had a saying about achievement. Does it apply to the Senate Judiciary Committee?
On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committees of both the Senate and House issued subpoenas for the testimony of two former White House staff – former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, who was nominated for the Supreme Court and Sara Taylor, the former political director at the White House.
1To the charge of Yankee chauvinism, I must plead gulity as charged. Earlier I said Tuscaloosa, which is in Alabama. This is particularly serious in the light of Hurricane Katrina. The Gulf Coast, which was in many ways neglected before, has been profoundly neglected since. A small bit of light – Tulane Law has been working with area residents to get some of the promised government relief. Points on the posterity book for the Late Larry for taking some of their folks in. The hard question, as always, how many?
