[Dialogue] A Sudden Taste for the Law

[Harry Wainwright]

 <http://www.nytimes.com/>  <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/> 







May 24, 2006

Editorial

A Sudden Taste for the Law 

It's hard to say which was more bizarre about Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales's threat to prosecute The Times for revealing President Bush's
domestic spying program: his claim that a century-old espionage law could be
used to muzzle the press or his assertion that the administration cares
about enforcing laws the way Congress intended.

Mr. Gonzales said on Sunday that a careful reading of some statutes "would
seem to indicate" that it was possible to prosecute journalists for
publishing classified material. He called it "a policy judgment by Congress
in passing that kind of legislation," which the executive is obliged to
obey.

Mr. Gonzales seemed to be talking about a law that dates to World War I and
bans, in some circumstances, the unauthorized possession and publication of
information related to national defense. It has long been understood that
this overly broad and little used law applies to government officials who
swear to protect such secrets, and not to journalists.

But in any case, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Bush have not shown the slightest
interest in upholding constitutional principles or following legislative
guidelines that they do not find ideologically or politically expedient.

Mr. Gonzales served as White House counsel and as attorney general during
the period Mr. Bush concocted more than 750 statements indicating that the
president would not obey laws he didn't like, or honor the recorded intent
of those who passed them. Among the most outrageous was Mr. Bush's statement
that he did not consider himself bound by a ban on torturing prisoners. Mr.
Gonzales was part of the team that came up with the rationalization for
torture, as well as for the warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' e-mail
and phone calls.

If Mr. Gonzales has developed a respect for legislative intent or a
commitment to law enforcement, he could start by using his department's
power to enforce the Voting Rights Act to protect Americans, rather than
challenging minority voting rights and endorsing such obviously
discriminatory practices as the gerrymandering in Texas or the Georgia voter
ID program. He could enforce workplace safety laws, like those so tragically
unenforced at the nation's coal mines, instead of protecting polluters and
gun traffickers.

He could uphold the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against
Torture, instead of coming up with cynical justifications for violating
them. He could repudiate the disgraceful fiction known as "unlawful enemy
combatant," which the administration cooked up after 9/11 to deny legal
rights to certain prisoners.

And he could suggest that the administration follow Congress's clear and
specific intent for the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act:
outlawing wiretaps of Americans without warrants.

 

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2006 The New York Times Company <http://www.nytco.com/>  

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