The New Face of Justice
The New Face of Justice
It is wonderful to see that with the new administration, the Justice Department appears to have received a well needed makeover under the leadership of our new Attorney General, Eric H. Holder. Apparently, gone are the days of politics as usual at the Department and hopefully we are well on our way to restoring the Department to what it was intended to be; an independent agency that sought justice outside the confines of politics.
Two recent decisions by Eric Holder support this belief. First, on April 1, 2009, the Justice Department made the shocking announcement that it would be moving to vacate the convictions of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, a Republican. The announcement stated that the move was made primarily based on prosecutorial misconduct within the Justice Department which helped lead to the convictions. Secondly, Holder has decided not to prosecute CIA officials whom may have been involved in harsh interrogation tactics against alleged terrorist detainees, a move that has angered many Democrats.
These moves by the Justice Department should be applauded because we could not have expected anything like this from the Roberto Gonzalez Justice Department. This shows a level of integrity from our new Attorney General that we have not seen in a long time from that post. It is unfortunate that we have come to accept as normal the politicization of the Justice Department and criminal prosecutions based on politics and political rivalries. It was not that long ago that Roberto Gonzales was under scrutiny for firing career prosecutors within the Justice Department for not being ‘Republican’ enough. What is even more amazing is that people actually defended Gonzalez and felt that it was fine if our criminal justice system had a political bent to it.
Well, thankfully, it is a new day at Justice and hopefully the Department can continue forward with its intended mission. That mission is insuring justice for all Americans.
Horace F. Hunter, Esq.
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