Senate Judiciary Cmtee To Introduce Bill To Rein In DOJ's Power To Discuss Investigations

[kpete]

Senate panel expected to curb DoJ’s power to discuss investigations
By Elana Schor
August 30, 2007

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to take up a bill next week that would rein in the Justice Department’s power to discuss pending criminal or civil investigations with White House aides.

The measure, written by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), would undo a policy set forth in an April 2002 memo issued by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft that greatly expanded the number of Justice and White House employees permitted to discuss open investigations.


Allegations that Justice officials shared sensitive details of criminal probes with White House aides helped the U.S. attorney firings scandal gain momentum this spring.

Whitehouse, himself a former federal prosecutor, blasted now-resigned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the revised policy during Gonzales’s tense April testimony.

more at:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senate-panel-expected-to-curb-dojs-power-to-discuss-investigations-2007-08-30.html

[cali]

self-delete- dupe

[cali]

1. Good. There's a whole lot of reining in

that needs to happen.

[DCKit]

2. Then they can go back and reverse everything Bush has done over the past seven years.

Since it's all out there, it shouldn't take to long to restore the rule of law. It'll be funny watching all the corporate monsters having to line up and wait years for their day in court because of the sheer volume of the cases that would generate.