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If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick…

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Update, April 22, 2008: Harper’s was informed on April 17, 2008 that the perjury investigation against Alice Martin was concluded on November 28, 2007, with a finding by the Department…

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Just a few smaller pieces that came up in the course of the week that I didn’t get into dealing with. (A busy week, hence fewer posts). Federal Prosecutors: Once…

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The federal prosecutor is a vital part of our democracy. The role has, in a sense, been the most critical building block upon which the American democracy has rested, for…

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The philosopher instrument is sentient; he’s at the same time the musician and the instrument. Sentient, he has a momentary consciousness of the sound he is rendering; animal, he remembers…

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When the U.S. attorneys scandal first surfaced, concerns came to focus very quickly on criminal investigations into a group of close friends among the California G.O.P. Congressional delegation. The case…

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Dear Editors: You employ one of the most gifted group of reporters in the newspaper industry. But I’m puzzled. You don’t really seem to appreciate the resources you’ve got or…

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At present the House Judiciary Committee has picked two cases for closer scrutiny. Both are cases in which the telltale signs of political manipulation can be found right on the…

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GOVERNOR. I had a sort of presentiment of it. Last night I kept dreaming of two rats–regular monsters! Upon my word, I never saw the likes of them–black and supernaturally…

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George W. Bush, it would seem, is the first president to have a completely unpredictable past. The Bush Administration now finds itself committed to an effort to sell its “Surge”…

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Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not…

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Big news in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from our papers and broadcast media. Munich’s Süddeutsche Zeitung reports: Terror in Germany: Investigations focus on 8 Terror suspects According…

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Current and former Justice Department officials I have interviewed have consistently identified Michael Chertoff, his successor Alice Fisher, and his protégé Noel Hillman, as figures with a strong interest in…

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Walter Benjamin is a figure in vogue among post-modernists in American academia. I’ve been to a number of conferences at which speakers quote his works, usually followed by a grating…

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Poems in Terza Rima I On the Transitory I still feel her breath upon my cheeks How can it be, that these close days Are gone, gone for ever, completely…

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‘One of the most peculiar characteristics of human nature,’ writes Lotze, ‘is. . . alongside so much selfishness in specific circumstances, the lack of jealousy which the present displays toward…

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George Bush made a detour to Anbar Province, Iraq, en route to the upcoming Australian summit. He spoke there encouragingly about the progress achieved by his policies. Anbar is no…

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Wem Zeit ist wie Ewigkeit, Und Ewigkeit ist wie Zeit, Der ist befreit Von allem Streit. He to whom time is like eternity, And eternity is like time, Is liberated…

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For the last several weeks I’ve had some data on a very curious contract award made by the administration of Alabama Governor Bob Riley. I held off doing anything with…

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Betray: a great word. What is betrayal? They talk of a man betraying his country, his friends, his sweetheart….All a man can betray is his conscience. And how is my…

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No sooner had Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation, than the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment going after a high-profile attorney linked to the presidential campaign of John Edwards with…

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The cornerstone of British foreign policy for the last generation has been a much vaunted “special relationship” with the United States, in which British national security policy was closely connected…

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The quote for the day is Herman Melville’s discussion of the notion of American Exceptionalism found in White-Jacket. A couple of readers have written asking that I flag for them…

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But in many things we Americans are driven to a rejection of the maxims of the Past, seeing that, ere long, the van of the nations must, of right, belong…

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In an interview with CNN on May 16, 2006, Alberto Gonzales said that he was the grandson of immigrants from Northern Mexico; in response to a question, he confirmed that…

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With the court-martial of Lt. Col. Jordan now complete, the official apologists will be out busily explaining that Abu Ghraib is all over now—see, we even court-martialed an officer, and…

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The quote for the day is Machiavelli’s speech from Christopher Marlowe’s play The Jew of Malta. It’s a curious play, filled with the wonderful blank verse for which Marlowe is…

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A recently retired flag officer friend of mine, who describes himself as a “once solid, and now wavering Republican” tells me : Most officers, you know, are Republicans, but we…

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