Political Quotes

“as we celebrate Robert Kennedy's 80th birthday, the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department maybe, given what has happened, should be renamed the Department of No Justice, because political operatives in charge have betrayed his legacy and the cause of justice in this country. As The Washington Post reports this morning, despite objections of the Justice Department's career professionals, President Bush's political appointees ``preapproved'' a controversial Georgia voter- identification program that has been compared to a modern-day poll tax. This is just one of a series of incidents that have subverted the purposes for which the Justice Department exists. Last June, Justice Department political appointees announced that the government would seek $10 billion instead of the $130 billion recommended by career lawyers in a case they tried for 6 years against the tobacco industry, and won. In the voting rights section, political appointees have also overruled career lawyers in approving GOP-backed redistricting maps for Georgia and Texas in recent years. Now, that is a way to build morale. In fact, the Civil Rights Division has lost nearly 20 percent of its career lawyers this year alone because they are fed up with political interference. At this point, they might as well drop the word ``justice'' from the masthead of the Department. It is time to end the political interference and let the Justice Department professionals do their jobs. Incompetence is not a virtue.…”