Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s standing in Congress weakened further on Thursday as Senate Democrats arranged to hold a no-confidence vote and the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee predicted that the furor over Mr. Gonzales’s stewardship would end with his resignation.
Mr. Gonzales’s already shaky position eroded after reports this week about an episode in 2004 when as White House counsel he was involved in an apparent effort to circumvent Justice Department officials who had refused to renew authority for a secret domestic eavesdropping program.
And Thursday, The Washington Post identified several United States attorneys who appeared on various Justice Department lists in 2005 and 2006 as potential candidates for dismissal.
(snip)
The vote on a resolution of no confidence, to be sponsored by Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California, could come as early as next week, Democrats said. Such votes of censure or condemnation are uncommon, although a handful were held in the 19th century, Congressional historians say. In 1886, the Senate adopted such a resolution against President Grover Cleveland’s attorney general, A. H. Garland, because he had refused to provide documents concerning the firing of a federal prosecutor.
Although the resolution would not be binding, it would sharpen the political lines, forcing Republicans to take a stand on whether Mr. Gonzales should retain his job.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/washington/18gonzales.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1179453684-Uf9YvMS0h/CIDtzW94fDCw
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