Doing Battle With a Corrupt Bushie
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee is investigating possible political prosecution by several U.S. attorneys in the Bush Justice Department.
But how does political prosecution work? One method is familiar to the public: It involves initiating prosecutions for political reasons. Two classic examples are the Don Siegelman case in Alabama and the Paul Minor case in Mississippi, both involving prominent Democrats.
But a second method is less familiar to the public: It involves hindering, or even curtailing, prosecutions for political reasons. In this scenario, people who actually have committed federal crimes are not investigated or prosecuted--all because they are "loyal Bushies," members of the GOP "home team."
The Alabama blog Legal Schnauzer is taking readers on a personal journey that involves this second form of political prosecution. And the practitioner of this unlawful art is Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and the first prosecutor to go after Siegelman, the former Democratic governor of Alabama.
Legal Schnauzer presents a tale of a citizen who presents Martin with clear evidence of wrongdoing by Republican judges in Alabama state courts. Interestingly, the case also involves wrongdoing by an attorney with family ties to Karl Rove and the Bush White House.
What does Martin do about these allegations of GOP crimes? Legal Schnauzer will show you. And it isn't pretty.
First, you can read the citizen's initial missive to Martin. Then you can read the U.S. attorney's dismissive, and rather snarky, reply.
But the citizen rises to the challenge, firing off a multipage letter that is filled with clear evidence of federal crimes, particularly honest-services mail fraud. Ironically, that charge was at the heart of both the Siegelman and Minor cases.
Will Alice Martin uphold her oath and pursue justice in a nonpartisan manner? And if she does not, what techniques will she use to sweep Republican wrongdoing under the proverbial carpet?
Legal Schnauzer is about to lay all of that out.
