Article I, Section 1, US Constitution:
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."

First Amendment to the US Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Seventh Amendment to the US Constitution:
"In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved..."

The investigation of the firing of 9 US attorneys late last year has the attorney general fighting off daily calls for his resignation. In each case, it appears there were political motivations for dismissing federal prosecutors whose records were generally outstanding or above average. John L. Brownlee, who was ultimately not fired, says he received a phone-call from a Justice official asking him to slow down on a guilty plea already negotiated.

Brownlee testified to receiving a night-time phone-call from an aide to deputy AG McNulty, asking him to put off a guilty plea he had secured against the manufacturer of OxyContin, an addictive painkiller. The call was irregular according to a number of witnesses, especially since the plea arrangement had already been approved by the Justice Department's criminal division.

According to the Washington Post, Michael J. Elston phoned Brownlee to pressure him to go slow on the OxyContin case at the behest of McNulty, his boss. The Post reports "Elston was McNulty's top aide until he stepped down in June amid the controversy over the prosecutors' firings. McNulty also has resigned, effective Friday, becoming the sixth senior aide to Gonzales involved in the controversy to leave the department in recent months."

Brownlee did not honor the unusual request, opting to go ahead with the plea already agreed to, the following day. 8 days later, he was reportedly placed on a list of prosecutors officials close to the attorney general recommended for firing. While he kept his job, several officials have said such night-time calls are "unorthodox".

• Washington Post: "U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept."

BACKGROUND:
SENATE VOTES 94 TO 2 TO STRIP BUSH ADMIN. OF POWER TO NAME FEDERAL PROSECUTORS WITHOUT REVIEW
USA PATRIOT ACT PROVISION OVERTURNED IN WAKE OF APPARENTLY POLITICAL APPLICATION OF NEW POWER
20 March 2007

As calls increase in president's party, and in Congress, for the attorney general to resign, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the government of a special power to name federal proseucutors without an approval process. The investigations into whether political motivations were at play in the firing of 8 US attorneys last year let the Senate to vote 94 to 2 to oppose the special post-9/11 power. [Full Story]

ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER FIRE FOR POLITICAL DISMISSALS
GOP SENATORS CALL FOR GONZALES' RESIGNATION AS DOJ DOCS SHOW FIRED ATTORNEYS SEEN AS 'EFFECTIVE', 'RESPECTED LEADER', 'HIGHLY REGARDED'
17 March 2007

Investigations by the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate are probing the suspicious nature of the untimely dismissal of at least 8 US attorneys, for what appear to be political reasons. The White House had claimed there was not strategy to fire en masse, until it was revealed that there was in fact consultation on firing all US attorneys and replacing them with political loyalists. [Full Story]

JUSTICE DEPT. ADMITS MISTAKES IN FIRING US ATTORNEYS
AG SAYS "MISTAKES WERE MADE" AMID ALLEGATIONS DEPT. USED POLITICAL CRITERIA TO DISMISS US ATTORNEYS THAT DID NOT TOE ADMIN. LINE IN PROSECUTIONS
15 March 2007

The Justice Department's new performance rating system has come under fire, after the firing of 8 US attorneys was called into question. The cases were not clearly cases of underperformance, but seemed to indicate there had been political motivations for the dismissals. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has now admitted that the program was not applied properly in some of those cases and promises to improve the evaluations policy. [Full Story]

HIGH COURT ALLOWS DEMOTION FOR DISSENT
1ST AMENDMENT RULING WILL PERMIT GOV'T TO DISCIPLINE EMPLOYEES WHO QUESTION OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT
31 May 2006

The freedom of speech is one of the foundational rights under US constitutional law, as manifest in the First Amendment, because it affords the common citizen a protection against a basic authoritarian abuse of power. Now, the US Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 that public employees do not enjoy First Amendment protections while on duty. [Full Story]

GOV'T POLICY UNLAWFULLY CRIMINALIZES COMMENT ON SCIENTIFIC FACT
NASA SCIENTIST TARGETTED FOR SPEAKING TO PRESS, EPA STAFF GAGGED SO BOSSES AREN'T "SURPRISED" BY COVERAGE
20 April 2006

The global environment is, of course, a global issue, one that touches every life on the planet, and the science about it should be open and available to all. Past government policy and existing federal law mean that such scientific evidence should be readily available to the public. But now, it appears that several agencies are laboring to silence scientists who are researching climate trends and alterations. [Full Story]

COURT FILING CITES 'CONCERTED EFFORT' TO ATTACK CRITICS
WASH. POST REPORTS WHITE HOUSE EFFORT TO USE TOP SECRET INFORMATION TO ATTACK CRITICS OF IRAQ POLICY
9 April 2006

Regardless of whether the president or the vice president have done anything illegal, it is now clear that they were both involved in deliberately using classified national security information to smear a critic of their Iraq policy. This contradicts statements made as recently as last week which suggest that the president opposed any such use of sensitive information for personal or political gain. [Full Story]

• Washington Post: "A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic"
• Globe & Mail: "Libby links Bush to Iraq intelligence leak"
• CNN: "Court Documents: Libby testified that Bush OK'd intelligence leak"