Political Quotes

“It was over a century ago that the U.S. Department of Justice undertook plans to fire certain Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alabama for political reasons. It was August 9, 1904, when Republican President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a letter to his Attorney General, William H. Moody. In this letter, President Theodore Roosevelt opposed the political firing of Federal prosecutors. This is what he said: Of all of the officers of the Government, those of the Department of Justice should be kept most free from any suspicion of improper action on partisan or factional grounds . . . so that there will be gradually a growth, even though a slow growth, in the knowledge that the Federal courts and the representatives of the Federal Department of Justice insist on meting out even-handed justice to all. Those words were spoken over 100 years ago. They ring true today. Our democracy is based on the rule of law. It is based on meting out evenhanded justice, as President Theodore Roosevelt said. The forced firing of eight U.S. attorneys, nearly all of whom had been judged qualified and favorably reviewed, calls into question the credibility and integrity of Federal prosecutors.”