Attorney General Must Work Without Partisanship, Op-Ed, October 28, 2008, By Sen. Patrick Leahy & Sen. Arlen Specter: “In much the same way that our financial system is suffering a crisis of confidence, our Justice Department — the flagship of our system of justice — also faces a difficult road to rebuild trust after a crisis of leadership and conscience. The infusion of politics into the Justice Department and an abdication of responsibility by its leaders have dealt a severe blow, squandering the public’s trust in a system that is supposed to apply our laws without fear or favor. Investigations by Congress and the DOJ’s inspector general into the U.S. attorney firing scandal and the politicized hiring of attorneys and immigration judges have substantiated some of our worst fears. We now have the corrosive situation in which defendants routinely question whether federal prosecutions are politically motivated. Great damage has been done to the credibility and effectiveness of the Justice Department…The next president should nominate someone who understands our moral obligation to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans and to respect the human rights of all people. The attorney general must hold everyone, no matter how powerful, accountable to the law. Any nominee must have a visceral commitment to pursuing and achieving justice, and a record of doing just that.”