The Senate Judiciary Comittee holds hearing today on the attorney purge scandal. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson has his Norma Desmond moment. C-Span covers it.

TChris has the latest developments.

The National Review calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales:

We do not need more evidence . . . to reach a conclusion about the suitability of Alberto Gonzales for the leadership of the Department of Justice.

. . . His claim not to have been involved in the firings suggests that he was either deceptive or inexcusably detached from the operations of his own department. . . . Gonzales’s latest tactic has been to concede that improper motives may have played a role in the firings, but to blame his underlings for any misconduct and to pledge to get to the bottom of it.

What little credibility Gonzales had is gone. . . . Alberto Gonzales should resign. The Justice Department needs a fresh start.

When is the last time you agreed with the National Review? I can't remember either.

Should judges be armed in the courtroom? This reminds me of a scene out of one of my favorite law movies, And Justice for All, starring Al Pacino and Jack Warden.

A Jacksonville, Fla., judge drew his handgun when an accused child molester was attacked by an alleged victim's father in court. "I didn't know if he was going after me or the bailiffs or the defendant," Circuit Judge John Merrett told The (Jacksonville, Fla.) Times-Union.

The father, who had not seen the defendant before the court appearance, hurdled a railing and landed several punches on the handcuffed and shackled man before bailiffs restored order. Merrett said that once he saw the situation was under control, he handed his gun to the court clerk and asked her to lock it in a drawer. Merrett has a concealed weapon permit and said he'd do the same thing again, the newspaper reported.

The public defender is complaining and wants to talk to the Chief Judge about whether judges should be armed in court.

More...

Not that there is anything wrong with that:

Monica Goodling, a Justice Department official involved in the firings of federal prosecutors, will refuse to answer questions at upcoming Senate hearings, citing Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, her lawyer said Monday.
"The potential for legal jeopardy for Ms. Goodling from even her most truthful and accurate testimony under these circumstances is very real," said the lawyer, John Dowd. He said that members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees seem already to have made up their minds that wrongdoing has occurred in the firings.

Hmm, that may well be but last I looked, Congress could not prosecute anyone, except for impeachment. Now there's a thought . . .

mcjoan has a very good post on why the White House is making the politically obtuse decision to not have AG Gonzales fall on his sword:

[G]iven any rational observer can see how damaging this situation is, and that it's only getting worse, what could be going on in their heads? Only two possibilities come to mind, and I suspect only one is really the answer. First, Bush truly is so stubborn, so willful, and so stupid as to not see the danger that Gonzales poses to the already damaged presidency, and he isn't going to let his Fredo go. But what is much more likely, Karl Rove needs the distraction, the deflection that Gonzales provides. As long as he's catching much of the heat, the White House stays out of the focus.

This makes sense to me. Rove got Gonzo into this mess and he will keep using him as a shield until it becomes impossible. mcjoan concludes that moving to impeach Gonzales is the best way to overcome this stonewall.

The NYTimes, in its inimitable style, seems to be asking the question do we believe Gonzo or our lying eyes? Check the phrasing on this lede:

An accumulating body of evidence is at odds with the statements of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that he played little role in the deliberations over the dismissal of eight United States attorneys.

We use the L word where I come from, but the NYTimes is quite genteel. So what next? Robert Kuttner says impeach:

THE HOUSE of Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Welcome to the call:

Attorney General Gonzales has the audacity to state that the Judiciary should not enforce the Constitution and the laws of the land when the President chooses to ignore his responsibility to faithfully execute the laws and the Constitution of the United States . . . He is unfit for the office of Attorney General. He should be removed from office.

Criminal defense lawyers take note. This year's NORML Aspen legal conference (June 9 - 10th) promises to be outstanding. Tommy Chong, Tony Serra (just released from federal prison on a tax misdemeanor and back practicing law) will be featured, and we will again be spending an afternoon at Hunter Thompson's Owl farm.

[NORML}will be holding another NORML legal seminar in Aspen, CO in early June. Among the many terrific speakers on the Aspen program, we are delighted to announce that Tommy Chong, of the famous duo Cheech and Chong, will be our featured luncheon speaker.

Tommy, as you may recall, was selectively prosecuted by the federal government a couple of years ago for selling pipes on the Internet, for which he ended up serving nine months in prison. His topic for the seminar is titled Why Pot Is Still Illegal and Why Dave Is Still Not Here. This experience has clearly left Tommy feeling a renewed sense of urgency for the need to legalize marijuana and stop arresting responsible marijuana smokers.

More....

I'll go into the legal issues in more detail in a later post, but I want to draw your attention to Marty Lederman's incisive post on the strategy being employed by the Solicitor General in defending the DC Circuit's Boumediene decision. I strongly criticized the decision here.

Marty says:

As I predicted (see here and here), the SG -- no doubt aware that the Court is likely to hold that the Constitution protects the detainees at GTMO -- has decided to focus the case on the much closer question, which is whether the D.C. Circuit review of CSRT determinations, prescribed in the DTA and MCA, is an "adequate substitute" for habeas, assuming that the detainees at GTMO do have constitutionally protected habeas rights.

As a litigator who has argued a number of appeals, I do admire the first rate lawyering from the SG's office. The focus on the narrower non-Constitutional question and away from the weakest part of the decision is executed deftly and smartly by the SG.

As appellate craftsmanship, it is more than first rate; it is a wonderfully argued brief. I think it could ultimately fail to persuade but, as I said, the craftsmanship is truly admirable.

We'll see how this plays out:

A House Judiciary subcommittee today authorized subpoenas for Karl Rove, President Bush’s political adviser, and other senior White House officials in the investigation into the firing of eight United States attorneys.

Democrats said the subpoenas, approved on a voice vote of the panel, would not be issued immediately but could provide leverage for Congress in trying to win the testimony of the aides being sought.

. . . Republicans on the subcommittee said they did not dispute the power of Congress to call the officials, but said the action was premature and smacked of politics. . . .

Score round 1 for the Dems. The GOP just conceded the officials can be called.

The case of the Juneau, Alaska high school student who was suspended from school for holding up a banner "Bong Hits for Jesus" when the Olympic torch was run through the town can only be described as idiotic. I understand why Frederick is fighting the suspension and why the ACLU is fighting the case. The idiots here are the Juneau high school principal, school board and of course, the DC based idiots - Kenneth Starr, who is representing the school board and the Supreme Court justices who voted to grant cert to this case.

Baseball fans know that whenever a manager gets a public vote of confidence, a firing is just around the corner. George Bush has a baseball background of course. Indeed, the biggest tragedy of the last 20 years for our nation was when Major League Baseball did not name Bush as Commissioner. Think of the heartache and tragedy we would have avoided the last 6 years.

Well, is this a baseball vote of confidence?

“The president spoke to the attorney general around 7:15 a.m. from the Oval Office,” said Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman. “They had a good conversation about the status of the United States attorney issue. The president also reaffirmed his strong backing and support for the attorney general.” Mr. Bush’s call to Mr. Gonzales, an old friend from Texas, could dampen speculation that the attorney general’s job is at stake, at least in the immediate future.

From Politico:

Republican officials operating at the behest of the White House have begun seeking a possible successor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose support among GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill has collapsed, according to party sources familiar with the discussions.

As Craig Crawford said on Olberman, this is akin to getting the paint out for changing the name on the parking space.

The end is nigh.