The systematic politicization of the Department of Justice Voting Section under the Bush administration culminated in scandal and resignations as congressional investigations revealed that career civil rights attorneys had been replaced with partisan operatives who blocked voting rights enforcement …
Alberto GonzalesHans von SpakovskyBradley SchlozmanJohn TannerMonica Goodlingvoting-rightsdoj-politicizationvoter-suppressioncivil-rights-divisionbush-administration
Monica Goodling, White House liaison and senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, testified under immunity that she violated federal law by applying political loyalty tests to career Justice Department positions. A 1999 graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School, …
The Bush administration fired 9 U.S. attorneys in an unprecedented midterm purge for what investigators determined were largely political reasons. Seven prosecutors were ordered to resign on December 7, 2006, including David Iglesias (New Mexico), Carol Lam (Southern California), and John McKay …
Alberto GonzalesKarl RoveDavid IglesiasCarol LamGeorge W. Bush+1 moreobstruction-of-justicepolitical-prosecutiondojgonzalesauthoritarianism
The Justice Department’s torture authorization memo represents the institutional culmination of WHIG’s constitutional crisis precedent establishment, demonstrating how systematic executive deception creates legal frameworks enabling executive immunity from constitutional constraints and …
John YooJay BybeeAlberto GonzalesWhite House Iraq GroupDepartment of Justice+5 morewhigconstitutional-crisis-precedentsexecutive-immunity-precedenttorture-authorizationrule-of-law-suspension+4 more
Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andy Card went to George Washington Hospital ICU to pressure hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorize the NSA surveillance program that the Department of Justice had deemed illegal. Acting Attorney General James Comey raced to the hospital with …
John AshcroftJames ComeyAlberto GonzalesAndy CardRobert Muellerrule-of-lawexecutive-powersurveillancestellarwindconstitutional-crisis+5 more
President George W. Bush authorized the NSA’s Stellar Wind warrantless domestic surveillance program, completely bypassing FISA court oversight in a fundamental alteration of constitutional checks and balances. The program allowed the NSA to collect phone metadata and internet communications …
George W. BushMichael HaydenNSADick CheneyDavid Addington+3 moresurveillancensastellar-windfisa-bypassconstitutional-crisis+3 more