Not just another case of routine partisan politics

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2008

If any more proof were needed that the Justice Department became just another political arm of the White House under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, it came Monday in a devastating report by the agency's own independent investigators.

For nearly two years, according to the report, young aides to Gonzales sought to pack the agency with prosecutors and immigration judges who adhered to conservative political views, even though the jobs called for independence and objectivity -- and, under law, were supposed to be non-political.

This is not a trivial matter, nor is it just standard partisan politics. Until now, presidents of both parties have understood that both the quality of the Justice Department and the credibility of the justice system depend on...