Andrew Cohen of CBS News has delivered a special report on the dumbing down of the Justice Department. He writes that
career professionals at Justice — nonpartisan federal lawyers who make up the backbone of the department — have been squeezed out or otherwise marginalized over the past few years by ideological (and in many cases underachieving and intellectually weak) attorneys chosen more for their partisan views and political connections than for their ability to offer unbiased and sharp stewardship over the nation's federal laws.He goes on to connect the dots from Paulose to the bogus Thompson case and concludes:
When you populate an office with ideologues and partisans and underachieving talent, you get an ideological and partisan office with underachieving results. And if there is any department in our federal system that can least afford to be ideological and partisan and underachieving, it is the Justice Department. This sorry state is true today, regardless of how and when the scandal over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys is resolved. Of all the dismaying legal legacies left by this administration, this one surely ranks near the top.A true must read for everybody.
Speaking of Rachel Paulose, it is being reported by the AP that
John Kelly, deputy director and chief of staff of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys in Washington, will spend "several days" here while the Minneapolis office undergoes a management transition.Apparently Wunderkind Rachel has created such a mess even main justice realizes she needs adult supervision.
It looks like the mainstream media is beginning to understand the importance of a Department of Justice that works, and works hard, for all of us, not just the President's friends.
Related--Mash at docstrangelove.com makes the following observation in his post discussing the method Frist and the Republicans used to obtain Paulose's confirmation.
It seems to me if you are going to replace experienced and respected United States Attorneys with cronies of the Bush Administration with dubious qualifications, you do not take the rule of law very seriously. It seems to me that when US Attorney jobs are handed out as political rewards to cronies like ambassadorships have been in the past, the message sent to the populace is that politics triumphs the rule of law. It seems to me that is a direct assault on the United States Constitution. To the extent that the United States Senate has colluded with the Executive Branch in carrying out the politicization and trivialization of the Justice Department, we the citizens are being abandoned by your elected representatives in favor of political favors.
We are left with the embarrassing sight of a United States Attorney whose ego eclipses her qualifications. We are left with Rachel Paulose.
