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NewsMonday, July 16, 2007 8:01 PM CDT
Dems target Gonzales, Supreme Court
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CHICAGO -- Democrats running for president used a national meeting of trial lawyers on Sunday to attack other lawyers, pillorying Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and ridiculing recent decisions by the conservative-tilting Supreme Court.

“We want a president who will defend civil justice but we have one who is only listening to Alberto Gonzales justice,’’ Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said at a presidential forum sponsored by the American Association for Justice, the trial lawyers group.

“We’ve got to have a different kind of attitude in this White House, one that respects the rule of law and recognizes that that is the essential tradition that has separated this country from so many others,’’ Obama said.

Obama’s rivals Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Joe Biden also were there, but the candidates didn’t share the stage at a downtown hotel. Each spoke separately for about 20 minutes and answered questions read by a host.

The Democratic-controlled Congress has been examining whether the White House exerted undue political influence in the firings of several federal prosecutors who were overseeing corruption investigations of political candidates before the November 2006 elections.

The dispute, which is threatening to blossom into a constitutional showdown over executive power, has also branched. It now covers Gonzales’ leadership as well as whether the Bush administration overreached in its warrantless wiretapping program by not getting court approval first. Gonzales is a former White House counsel.

If elected, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said his Justice Department would be free of White House influence when it prosecutes cases.

“I will appoint someone who I will direct and say: ‘You will be an attorney general for the people. I don’t want to even see you talking to the political arm of the White House staff,’’’ said Richardson, the only non-lawyer in the group.

Another favorite target was the Supreme Court led by Bush-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts.

Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and vice presidential nominee, said civil rights, along with the rights of workers and women, are at stake under the Roberts court.

“They’re eating away at the fabric of America, of who we are and what we are,’’ he said.

He lambasted the court’s recent 5-4 decision to strike down school integration plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, saying it “turned Brown vs. Board of Education on its head.’’

Brown is the landmark court ruling that ended state-sponsored school segregation. The court’s recent ruling does not affect several hundred other public school districts that remain under federal court order to desegregate.

Clinton, the New York senator, got raucous applause when she reminded the crowd that she voted against Bush appointees Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

“At the time, I warned in my speeches on the floor that especially with Justice Alito — he had been so willing to side with big business against nearly anyone on any issue during his judicial career — that if given the opportunity to serve on the Supreme Court he could become part of a majority that began to undo years of precedent,’’ she said.

Richardson gave a near-failing grade to the Supreme Court.

The Democrats also piled on Bush, renewing their calls for an end to the war in Iraq.

“The next president is going to have to end this God-awful debacle in Iraq without mortgaging our future in the region for a generation or more and immediately turn to other hot spots in the world before they explode into new wars,’’ Biden, a senator from Delaware, said.

Clinton labeled the Bush presidency a “dangerous experiment in extremism.’’

“I would argue that his is the most radical presidency we’ve ever had in our country’s history,’’ she said.

Attorney Diane Fenner of Philadelphia appreciated the chance to hear from the presidential hopefuls and said each was qualified to do the job.

“I thought they all had a grasp of the fundamental issues that are important to me,’’ she said.

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Reader comments on this story - 11 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Read your history book wrote on Jul 26, 2007 10:04 PM:

" Hey Yada Yada... Are you implying that the Democrats of today are pro-slavery??? Do your homework one time. The entire south was conservative democrat until the Civil Rights Movement when the southern democrats began abondoning the party to become Republicans because the northern democrats were pro-civil rights. It was the Goldwater-Johnson election that cemented the shift from the conservative democrats of the south to the now conservative republicans. It was a valient effort on your part, but gimme a break. "

YadaYada wrote on Jul 16, 2007 10:43 PM:

" Folks, ignore all the fibbers talking about Republicans abandoning Alberto Gonzales. Here's the truth: On June 11, 2007 a Senate vote on cloture to end debate on the resoution failed (60 votes are required for cloture). The vote was 53 to 38 with 7 not voting and 1 (Stevens R-AK) voting "present" (one senate seat is vacant). Seven Republicans, most of the usual suspects, Sununu, Hagel, Collins, Specter, Snowe, Smith and Coleman voted to end debate; Independent Democrat Joseph Lieberman voted against ending debate. No Democrat voted against the motion. Not voting: Biden (D-DE), Brownback (R-KS), Coburn (R-OK), Dodd (D-CT), Johnson (D-SD), McCain (R-AZ), Obama (D-IL). BTW, remember when Janet Reno, Clinton's Attorney General, came to work on her first day? She fired all 95 U.S. Attorneys. That was before she ordered the murder of the 80 men, women, children and babies of the Branch Davidians (no, we haven't forgotten that). "

YadaYada wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:55 PM:

" Civil War: Democrats, pro slavery. Republicans, against slavery. Democrats in 1950s South, particularly Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia denied blacks Constitutional rights. Republican president turned out the national guard to enforce blacks' rights. Ku Klux Klan was comprised largely of Civil War pro-slavery Democrats. Senator Robert "Sheets" Byrd (D - WV) is equally at home in the Democrat Party and the Ku Klux Klan. DNC Chairman Dean made public disparaging remarks about black hotel employees. Democrat Black Congressman (Jefferson) accused Democrat Speaker Pelosi of racism. Democrat Senators Clinton and Obama (combined 75% white) feigned "old negro" dialects to curry favor with blacks in Selma. Obama even publicly proclaimed the march in Selma was the basis of his conception, that he would not even exist if not for Selma; in reality, Obama was three years old at the time, being raised by his white grandparents in Hawaii. "

To Yada Yada wrote on Jul 16, 2007 2:01 PM:

" I'm interested to hear you back up your statement saying Obama is a racist. You imply Powell, Rice and Gonzalez are the only people within the Bush Administration that are being attacked. First of all it is the Democrats and most Republicans doing the attacking. Secondly, it is everyone within the administration who put America in the awful situation we are in now that is being attacked; not just the minorities. Criticizing a person for being terrible at their job does not make a person racist. "

Alphonse wrote on Jul 16, 2007 10:44 AM:

" This is an awfully sad comments page. Anyone who is paying attention can see that the Bush administration and Alberto Gonzales tampered with the justice department for political reasons. They fired lawyers, all of whom received positive performance evaluations, because they filed suits against corrupt Republicans instead of leaving them alone like the Bush administration would have preferred. Have any of you noticed that the majority of Republicans in congress are calling for Gonzales to resign? To accuse Democrats of making irresponsible personal attacks is ridiculous! Anyone with common sense, Democrat OR Republican, is calling for this joke to resign. I'd wager a guess and say that you who have commented so far are so blindingly conservative that you condemn Democrats without even thinking. I offer you this advice. Read some articles about the Gonzales scandal, read the remarks made by Democratic and Republican senators, read up on the ever-increasing body of evidence that points to his political meddling, and then come back here and tell us all what you think about Gonzales and the current make-up of the justice department. "

to: YadaYada wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:51 AM:

" Colin Powell left office because he did not want to continue being a cronie for the current administration. "

Shocked wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:50 AM:

" The dems attacking current offices they don't hold. Hillary attacking big business through her comments about Alito. How much was Bill making on those big business speeches?? Also, how much did she make in that blind trust off big oil and Wal-Mart?? This is the typical hypocritical rhetoric that is continually spilled from the left. The problem is people are too dumb to see it and cheer for it. "

ya gotta be kidding! wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:45 AM:

" seems the dems should look at themselves, how long have they controlled the house and senate this time. . . .and they are already in over their heads. what a bunch of misdirected, tree hugging losers along with their 'so-called' leader pelosi from the left coast. that woman couldn't lead a hungry man to a dining room! "

YadaYada wrote on Jul 16, 2007 9:36 AM:

" Democrats proudly proclaim to be the champions of minorities, yet, when given the opportunity, they always viciously, with malace, attack innocent, high ranking minority appointees; Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales, to name a few. The Democrats drove General Powell out of office and they will not stop their personal attacks until Secretary Rice and Attorney General Gonzales resign under fire. It is quite clear that Democrats are racists, Obama more than most. "

pfff wrote on Jul 16, 2007 8:40 AM:

" Surprise, surprise. Anyone else they haven't attacked? That is the very reason why some decent qualified people do not get into politics and run for office. They know they will be attacked with truths and untruths. Whatever gets the votes. That is the Demos mantra. Attack attack attack. Unless our security is involved. Then they want us to be silent. "

Surprise, Surprise wrote on Jul 16, 2007 7:52 AM:

" Democrats pandering to trial lawyers. What a shocker! "

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