The guy who became Attorney General after defending torture as legal, now defends a Constitution-busting violation of the separation of powers:

“I obviously — personally, and the Department collectively — we have a great deal of respect for the Congress as a coequal branch of government, as a separate and independent branch of government, and [we’re] obviously sensitive to their concerns,” he said.

He noted that discussion to try to address lawmakers’ concerns began Monday evening and continued yesterday.

“We respectfully, of course, disagree with the characterization by some,” Gonzales said. “We believe … we have been very careful, very thorough in our pursuit of criminal wrongdoing, and that’s what’s going on here. We have an obligation to the American people to pursue the evidence where it exists.”

He forgot to mention his obligation to abide by, defend and support the US Constitution….. again.

This is not a partisan concern. If the Democratic legislator is proven to be a crook, they ought to throw the book at him. But as the top law enforcement officer in the land, Gonzalez must throw that book legally, or any conviction that would result would be tossed out. All the FBI leaks in this case already demonstrate they’re making a public case that Jefferson’s a crook.

And the only rationale for doing so is political: they’re promoting the concept that one or two crooked Democrats acting alone equals numerous Republicans who’ve been convicted, or are under trial, or under investigation, including several that did tagteam lawbreaking. They want the public to believe that ‘everyone’s doing it’ to shield Republicans from angry voters in November.

It thus becomes critical to review the past thirteen years and tally up the corruptions on both sides so voters can see through that lie.

(From mid-2003 through mid-2005, one can find the GOP half of the record here.)

But it’s clear, when the Republican Speaker of the House is leading the effort to stop Gonzalez’ underlings from breaking the law, that this isn’t the partisan game that Gonzalez’ would like. The Attorney General is willing to completely ruin the legal case against Jefferson, to make his public propaganda points. So not only is he breaking the law, but he’s likely failing to do his job of seeking a legal conviction. Going through the motions after sabotaging his evidence will not cover up his lawbreaking nor his failure.

In my opinion, Jefferson should sue the Justice Department, Gonzalez should be fired, and once the evidence is known, Jefferson should step down or face expulsion.

As the article concludes:

Leaders in both parties have said this is the first time in the 219-year history of the United States that the Justice Department has taken these actions.

And breaking the law to stop a lawbreaker will always be just as illegal.

Update: Others with more legal expertise differ in their conclusions. At Talk Left. At Orin Kerr’s.

What I was thinking is that a member of Congress may have access to much privileged or confidential information, sometimes info requiring various levels of security clearances. For the FBI to rifle through that material in pursuit of specific info, suggests that they’d be privy to much information that has nothing to do with the sought material. As a result, the Executive branch would be privy to information about the intents of the Legislative Branch, if the latter was planning to exercise its power of checking and balancing the Executive’s power.

That’s why I thought it could breach the Constitution, that it posed a threat to a key power held by the Legislature, as defined in the Constitution. Apparently, I’m mistaken.