'The problem here is that it appears the attorney general, when he moved from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to the Department of Justice, he didn't realize he'd changed jobs,' said Arnold I. Some Republicans, too, doubt Gonzales can keep the White House's influence from improperly seeping into his department. 'It creates a partisan atmosphere, and that creates issues of confidence in the administering of justice,' said Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who previously served as U.S. Sheldon Whitehouse's estimates, 417 White House staff members and 42 Justice Department employees can discuss sensitive cases. In 2002, a year after Bush took office, the number of people was greatly expanded. During President Clinton's two terms, such discussions were restricted to six people - two at Justice and four at the White House. The administration changed policy to allow more department officials to be in touch with the White House about some of the government's most sensitive criminal and civil cases.But Rove used an unofficial e-mail address, registered to the Republican National Committee, to correspond about the firings - raising the specter that politics was behind the ousters. attorneys serve at the president's pleasure and the White House is properly involved in discussions about their employment. Rove also was included in e-mail traffic about the firings between the White House and the department.Īs presidential appointees, U.S. He also helped coach Justice aide William Moschella's planned testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Department documents show that shortly after the 2004 elections, Bush political adviser Karl Rove questioned whether all 93 of the nation's top federal prosecutors should be ordered to resign.Goodling quit last month and is set to testify this week before a House committee investigating whether politics played a part in the firings last year of eight U.S. Making hiring decisions based on political affiliation is illegal. Allegations that Monica Goodling, the department's liaison to the White House and Gonzales' former counsel, aimed to only hire career prosecutors who were Republicans.The program was branded unconstitutional by a federal judge and since has been changed to require court approval before surveillance can be conducted. Less than a year later, in February 2005, Gonzales took Ashcroft's place as attorney general. Ultimately, Bush ordered changes to the program to help the department defend its legality. The next day, the White House reauthorized the program without the department's approval. His former deputy, Jim Comey, told the Senate last week that Gonzales and then-presidential chief of staff Andy Card came to Ashcroft's hospital room to get his approval in what Comey described as an 'effort to take advantage of a very sick man.'Īshcroft refused to sign off on the program. A dramatic 2004 confrontation between Gonzales, then the White House counsel, and former Attorney General John Ashcroft over whether to reauthorize a secret program to let the government spy on suspected terrorists without court approval.Īt the time, Ashcroft was in intensive care and not seeing any visitors.'But it will not ebb and flow with this president and this attorney general.'Ī growing number of critics says Gonzales repeatedly has sought to shape the normally independent department to the White House's ends.Īmong examples they cite of White House meddling at the Justice Department are:

'It's important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner, and it will ebb and flow,' White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Friday. He says he will remain in the job until he no longer has the president's support.

Gonzales, facing a no-confidence vote in the Senate, is resisting lawmakers' demands that he resign.

Edwin meese christorpher hitchens