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Ashcroft's successor

Alberto Gonzales' record suggests he may be as dismissive of individual rights and the rule of law as the current attorney general.

A Times Editorial
Published November 11, 2004

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The news that John Ashcroft has resigned as attorney general comes as a relief to anyone who cares about civil liberties. His tenure at the helm of the Justice Department has been marked by a fiercely anticonstitutional agenda. It is comforting to know that he won't continue in the job during President Bush's second term.

In his stead, the president was quick to name White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, a long-time Bush loyalist who may not share the same moralist ideology as Ashcroft but may be equally dismissive of the rule of law and individual rights. The Senate should make a careful and critical examination of Gonzales' record before confirming him for the nation's top law enforcement position.

During his 2001 confirmation hearing, Ashcroft promised not to let his personal beliefs influence the job. "I pledge to you that strict enforcement of the rule of law will be the cornerstone of justice," he said. But that promise turned out to be empty. Ashcroft was a highly destructive and divisive force. He weakened civil rights enforcement, defended the administration's assertion of extra-legal powers in the war on terrorism and attempted to impose his personal ideology on states that supported medical marijuana and doctor-assisted suicide.

Gonzales' record indicates that his legal judgment may be similarly faulty, particularly relative to a willingness to disregard constitutional strictures in the war on terrorism.

Gonzales' meteoric career trajectory can be traced primarily to his association with George W. Bush. When Bush was governor of Texas, Gonzales was hired as his general counsel and then appointed by Bush to the Texas Supreme Court. After Bush was elected president, Gonzales moved to Washington to serve as his closest legal adviser. Since then, Gonzales has helped guide some of the administration's worst legal and strategic actions.

Gonzales signed a controversial January 2002 draft memorandum to the president asserting that the Geneva Conventions should not apply to al-Qaida or Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo. He called the conventions "quaint" and recommended they be dumped to preserve "flexibility."

His analysis gave legal cover to ungoverned interrogations and helped set the stage for abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere. The decision also further alienated the United States from its allies and caused this country to lose much of its moral authority in the eyes of the world.

Gonzales also reportedly wrote the presidential order authorizing the use of military tribunals - a procedure so deeply flawed and lacking in due process that military defense lawyers took the rare step of challenging it. On Monday, a federal judge ordered the tribunals stopped.

Like Ashcroft, Gonzales has been a promoter of presidential secrecy. He helped put the records of former presidents as well as the vice president's energy task force records out of public reach.

None of this inspires much confidence that Gonzales will be an advocate for civil liberties or an accountable government. However, his full record needs to be thoroughly examined before any final judgment about his fitness for office can be reached. If Gonzales' record as a Texas judge and as White House counsel is any indication, he may be an improvement on Ashcroft. But then, who wouldn't?

[Last modified November 11, 2004, 00:29:24]

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