Another End-Run Around Congress
Posted on | June 15, 2007
Since Congress passed a bill ending the Attorney General’s authority to appoint interim US Attorneys without Senate approval, it may be surprising to hear that AG Gonzales is trying to do it again while the bill gathers dust on the President’s desk.
Tracy Schmaler, a spokeswoman for Senator Leahy, clarified the situation in an e-mail to Raw Story.
“It just so happens the committee got notice yesterday, that on June 16, George Cardona’s 210 days as Acting U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California will have run out and the Attorney General will appoint him as an interim U.S. Attorney at that time. (i.e. still using the end-run authority because Bush has slow-walked signing the bill),” she wrote.
Raw Story could not reach the Justice Department for comment at press time.
On June 4, the Congress sent S. 214, the Preserving United States Attorney Independence Act of 2007, to President George W. Bush. The bill overturned a measure stealthily passed by the Republican-led Congress in 2006 that allowed the Attorney General to indefinitely appoint US Attorneys on an interim basis. Critics said the provision was intended to do an end-run around the standard Senate confirmation process for US Attorneys.
In the Bush Administration, power is an end, not a means.
