U.S. News & World Report’s Chitra Ragavan notes that Alberto Gonzales’s late night visit to John Ashcroft at George Washington University Hospital to talk about extension of a highly classified and unlawful surveillance program may not be under review by the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility since that office cannot investigate its boss, but a complaint is being taken to the Texas Bar Association:
Indeed, congressional sources tell U.S. News that Democrats will ask the Texas Bar Association to determine whether Gonzales violated his code of professional responsibility or broke laws by bringing up the NSA program in the hospital in front of Ashcroft’s wife, who lacks security clearances. “I am not going to speculate on discussions that may or may not have taken place,” Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd responded, “much less attempt to render a legal judgment on any such discussions.”
Law professors David Luban and Marty Lederman discuss the ethics and legality of Gonzales’s conduct here and here.
