What is the Alberto Gonzales controversey? I must write a paper about it and i don't know what it is about.

Question

I've heard something about maybe he came out of the closet. I heard something about subpoenas and I want to know all about the entire controversey. Thanks.

Answer 1

The Department of Justice, which Gonzales runs as AG, has had three major scandals in the past month.

The first was the Inspector General's report that the FBI had been mis-using (and sometimes intentionally abusing) its authority to gain access to financial and communications records without a warrant. In some case, laws were broken, though usually by incompetence rather than by intent.

The second was a determination that Bush had denied the Dept of Justice security clearances to look into the illegal NSA wiretapping program, and that Gonzales was a target of that investigation. Shortly after the investigation was stone-walled by Bush, Gonzales was appointed to run the Department of Justice.

On the heals of those, and the Scooter Libby conviction for perjury and obstruction, it came to light that 8 US Attorneys (senior federal prosecutors) had been fired last December. Accusations were made that the reasons for their firing were improper and unethical. Gonzales held a press conference implying that he didn't even know they had been fired (by Gonzales's chief of staff) until after the fact.

So, either Gonzales potentially acted in volation of his ethical obligations as attorney and his oath of office as Attorney General, or he is simply an incompetent manager who doesn't know what's happening within his own department. Those are the accusations.

Congress, which created the Justice Department, and which has oversight authority as part of the constitutional duties, decided to hold hearings to determine whether Gonzales did anything wrong. As part of those hearings, Congress asked for testimony from White House aids (Rove, and others) who were potentially involved in one or more of these events.

The White House said that the aides would only be allowed to testify off the record, in private and not under oath. Congress then authorized the issuing of subpoenas, under the laws passed 128 years ago, to compel Rove and others to testify before Congress, on the record and under oath.

The White House has refused. Nobody has come up with any legal justification for why the White House is allowed to refuse.

Answer 2

It is not unusual for attorneys to be dismissed for no reason other than to be replaced by the administration. The new appointees must be put through an interviewing process and receive approval by the Senate.

The controversy is:

A coup d'état (pronounced /ku de'ta/), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. It is also an example of political engineering. It may or may not be violent in nature. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system through unconstitutional means.

*This is a mild Coup d'etat in that the legislation added by Homeland Security altered the process by which Attorneys are chosen and allows appointment without approval. It also changed the process by which we as citizens are protected by our Government.

Supporting Information:

A key issue in the controversy is the political nature of United States Attorneys' appointments. A 2006 revision of the USA PATRIOT Act amended the United States Code to permit the term of an interim U.S. Attorney to last until a nominated replacement is approved by the Senate, in effect giving the United States Attorney General, the officer authorized to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys, the power to appoint U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval.[7] On March 20, 2007, the Senate voted to overturn this provision.
(This was in a section of Homeland Security Legislation pushed through by this administration. In addition, there were other constitutional amendments made in this legislation that are questionable)

Legal scholars have stated that firing attorneys to block investigations and pursue political retribution could be violating the duty of the president to faithfully execute the laws under the constitution and could be construed as "corrupting" the influencing of a government proceeding in violation of federal law.

The concerns are that the legislation may have been designed to manipulate the execution of the law under the constitution. It poses a great threat to democracy not to have over site. Please take the time to read the complete legislation and ask yourself how this could effect Americans freedoms and rights. Also, ask yourself if the proper checks and balances are still in place to protect US Citizens from a corrupt government.

I hope this assists you in your paper. Get that "A" by taking the time to protect your rights. Knowledge is Power.

Answer 3

Pick a controversy - it could be the controversy surrounding his legal justifications for torturing prisoners of war.

It could be the controversy over his allowing the FBI to violate the law in spying on Americans without warrants.

It could be the controversy over his firing several US Attorneys because they prosecuted a few Republicans instead of concentrating on Democrats.

Answer 4

This website is a great place to start. It's short and quick to the point. Don't plagerize though. We all know that paper is due tomorrow!

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/gonzales/index.asp

Answer 5

See what happens when you don't pay attention to what is happening in the world? You have to write a paper and are desparate for information.

Answer 6

It is a political-racial issue, Gonzo is Mexican.

Answer 7

It is all about politics.