ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned today. Video and transcript available here.

For a background on the role and purpose of the Department of Justice, watch this panel discussion from the the 2007 ACS national convention.

Congressional Quarterly reported in early August that Senator Harry Reid and President Bush had an agreement that Bush would not make any recess appointments, which would apparently include Gonzales' replacement.

Majority Leader  Harry  Reid confidently  predicted that Bush will not use his constitutional authority to fill top jobs without Senate confirmation. “We have an agreement with the president,” said Reid, D-Nev. “We don’t think there will be any.”

For a primer on recess appointments, see the following CRS Reports: Recess Appointments: a Legal Overview, and Recess Appointments: Frequently Asked Questions.

Talking Points Memo has a round-up of senior management that have recently left the Justice Department, and a primer on Paul Clement, the acting head of the department.

It is unclear who President Bush will nominate to succeed Gonzales, although reports are pointing to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff.

The resignation will take effect September 17. Paul Clement, the Solicitor General, will serve as acting Attorney General.

After the jump is a round-up of news reports and statements by elected officials.
The AP's lede on the AG's departure:

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, announced his resignation Monday, driven from office after a wrenching standoff with congressional critics over his honesty and competence. Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his departure over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend for months until accepting his resignation last Friday.

The Washington Post had a similar lede to the AP:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced his resignation today, ending a controversial cabinet tenure that included clashes with Congress over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and over the use of warrantless wiretaps in the war on terror.

The Slate legal team speculated as to why A.G. Gonzales chose to resign now, including that 'he's taking a hike because he lied," "Gonzales stayed to provide a distraction from the real story—Rove's wrongdoings—by stumbling and bumbling for the camera," and that there's few senior people left at the D.O.J.

The New York Times chose a slightly different hook:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, announced his resignation in Washington today, declaring that he had “lived the American dream” by being able to lead the Justice Department.

Senator Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, commented on the A.G.'s departure, stating:

Under this Attorney General and this President, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence.

Congressman Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said:

It is a sad day when the attorney general of the United States resigns amid a cloud of suspicion that the system of justice has been manipulated for political purposes. More than accountability, we need answers. Unfortunately, the continued stonewalling of the White House in the U.S. Attorney scandal has deprived the American people of the truth. If the power of the prosecutor has been misused in the name of partisanship, we deserve a full airing of the facts. The responsibility to uncover these facts is still on the Congress, and the Judiciary Committee in particular.

The Center for American Progress commented:

Ashcroft’s successor often seemed more a White House functionary than the attorney general of the United States. Alberto Gonzales was ever-willing to subordinate the needs of justice to the demands of his political masters—crossing lines that even his predecessor had refused to cross. His cavalier disregard for the rule of law and his tenuous grasp of the responsibilities of his office were an embarrassment to the Department of Justice and an insult to the American people.

President Bush responded to the Attorney General's resignation:

This morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he will leave the Department of Justice, after two and a half years of service to the department. Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle. And I have reluctantly accepted his resignation, with great appreciation for the service that he has provided for our country.