The American Jewish Congress called on President Bush to nominate a nonpartisan attorney general.
“To restore faith in our system of laws, we therefore call on President Bush to appoint a person of the highest caliber to this important post, without regard to political affiliation and without regard to his or her past relationship to the President or his political party,” the rights organization said in a statement. “The next attorney general should be a fighter for the American people instead of a blind defender of the administration that appointed him.”
Alberto Gonzales, Bush’s scandal-embattled attorney general, will step down by Sept. 17.
“While we congratulate President Bush for the historic decision to appoint the nation’s first Hispanic American attorney general,” AJCongress said, “Mr. Gonzales’ tenure proved to be disappointing – marred by a pattern of decision-making that gave excessive weight to partisan political considerations and that appeared to smack of cronyism at the Department of Justice, rather than to professional management of the department.”
Democrats accused Gonzales of advocating for his boss instead of the nation’s interests, especially in sacking nine U.S. Attorneys allegedly because they resisted political pressure to pursue cases against Democrats and drop cases against Republicans.
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