Article I, Section 1, US Constitution:
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."

First Amendment to the US Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Seventh Amendment to the US Constitution:
"In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved..."

US attorney general Alberto Gonzales has resigned his office, according to sources in the administration. Amid accusations of political abuses and incompetence, prominent members of Congress from both parties had been calling for Gonzales to step down, for several months. A probe into his role in the firing of 8 US attorneys in December of last year, allegedly for political reasons, has called into question his leadership at the Department of Justice. [Full Story]

VOTER FRAUD & JUSTICE FIRINGS PROBES REVEAL DISAPPEARING PRESSURE GROUP, THE ACVR
TIES BETWEEN USUBSTANTIATED VOTER-FRAUD ALLEGATIONS, 'THOR' HEARNE, ACVR, FEC & GOP SUGGEST CAMPAIGN TO SWAY 2004 ELECTION
23 August 2007

The American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) was supposed to be a non-partisan NGO pushing for government action to combat what it alleged was a widespread problem with ballot fraud across the United States. When investigations revealed it was founded and operated by Republican campaign operatives, and that its allegations were largely fabricated, the organization literally disappeared from public view. And now it is increasingly difficult to find documents it published or links to information about its founders online. [Full Story]

NIGHT-TIME PHONE-CALL FROM JUSTICE AIDE ASKED US ATTORNEY TO STALL GUILTY PLEA
CASE AGAINST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY WAS NOT STALLED, PROSECUTOR WAS SHORTLISTED FOR FIRING
4 August 2007

The investigation of the firing of 9 US attorneys late last year has the attorney general fighting off daily calls for his resignation. In each case, it appears there were political motivations for dismissing federal prosecutors whose records were generally outstanding or above average. John L. Brownlee, who was ultimately not fired, says he received a phone-call from a Justice official asking him to slow down on a guilty plea already negotiated. [Full Story]

SENATE VOTES 94 TO 2 TO STRIP BUSH ADMIN. OF POWER TO NAME FEDERAL PROSECUTORS WITHOUT REVIEW
USA PATRIOT ACT PROVISION OVERTURNED IN WAKE OF APPARENTLY POLITICAL APPLICATION OF NEW POWER
20 March 2007

As calls increase in president's party, and in Congress, for the attorney general to resign, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the government of a special power to name federal proseucutors without an approval process. The investigations into whether political motivations were at play in the firing of 8 US attorneys last year let the Senate to vote 94 to 2 to oppose the special post-9/11 power. [Full Story]

ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER FIRE FOR POLITICAL DISMISSALS
GOP SENATORS CALL FOR GONZALES' RESIGNATION AS DOJ DOCS SHOW FIRED ATTORNEYS SEEN AS 'EFFECTIVE', 'RESPECTED LEADER', 'HIGHLY REGARDED'
17 March 2007

Investigations by the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate are probing the suspicious nature of the untimely dismissal of at least 8 US attorneys, for what appear to be political reasons. The White House had claimed there was not strategy to fire en masse, until it was revealed that there was in fact consultation on firing all US attorneys and replacing them with political loyalists. [Full Story]

JUSTICE DEPT. ADMITS MISTAKES IN FIRING US ATTORNEYS
AG SAYS "MISTAKES WERE MADE" AMID ALLEGATIONS DEPT. USED POLITICAL CRITERIA TO DISMISS US ATTORNEYS THAT DID NOT TOE ADMIN. LINE IN PROSECUTIONS
15 March 2007

The Justice Department's new performance rating system has come under fire, after the firing of 8 US attorneys was called into question. The cases were not clearly cases of underperformance, but seemed to indicate there had been political motivations for the dismissals. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has now admitted that the program was not applied properly in some of those cases and promises to improve the evaluations policy.

The judiciary is bound only by the law. For this reason, mid-level prosecutors are in most cases not elected officials, and judges may have lifelong appointments or sit until an age beyond normal retirement. Independence of the courts system is crucial to ensuring that neither of the politically driven branches of government accumulate the power to manipulate prosecutions or use the legal process to attack dissidents or make policy. [Full Story]

BACKGROUND:
HIGH COURT ALLOWS DEMOTION FOR DISSENT
1ST AMENDMENT RULING WILL PERMIT GOV'T TO DISCIPLINE EMPLOYEES WHO QUESTION OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT
31 May 2006

The freedom of speech is one of the foundational rights under US constitutional law, as manifest in the First Amendment, because it affords the common citizen a protection against a basic authoritarian abuse of power. Now, the US Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 that public employees do not enjoy First Amendment protections while on duty. [Full Story]

COURT FILING CITES 'CONCERTED EFFORT' TO ATTACK CRITICS
WASH. POST REPORTS WHITE HOUSE EFFORT TO USE TOP SECRET INFORMATION TO ATTACK CRITICS OF IRAQ POLICY
9 April 2006

Regardless of whether the president or the vice president have done anything illegal, it is now clear that they were both involved in deliberately using classified national security information to smear a critic of their Iraq policy. This contradicts statements made as recently as last week which suggest that the president opposed any such use of sensitive information for personal or political gain. [Full Story]

• Washington Post: "A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic"
• Globe & Mail: "Libby links Bush to Iraq intelligence leak"
• CNN: "Court Documents: Libby testified that Bush OK'd intelligence leak"