Free Republic

WASHINGTON - David Margolis, a lawyer at the Justice Department for 40 years, was named Friday to oversee a special prosecutor's investigation of who in the Bush administration disclosed the name of an undercover CIA officer. Margolis, whose title is associate deputy attorney general, is taking the place of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, whose last day of work was Friday. Comey will be Lockheed Martin's new general counsel. Comey made the designation of Margolis. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has stepped aside from the probe because he was White House counsel when Valerie Plame's name was leaked in 2003 and...

They were loyal conservatives, and Bush appointees. They fought a quiet battle to rein in the president's power in the war on terror. And they paid a price for it. A NEWSWEEK investigation. Feb. 6, 2006 issue - James Comey, a lanky, 6-foot-8 former prosecutor who looks a little like Jimmy Stewart, resigned as deputy attorney general in the summer of 2005. The press and public hardly noticed. Comey's farewell speech, delivered in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, contained all the predictable, if heartfelt, appreciations. But mixed in among the platitudes was an unusual passage. Comey thanked "people...

The Senate Judiciary Committee had long been scheduled to vote last week on the nomination of Timothy Flanigan to be Deputy Attorney General. But then Hurricane Katrina hit, Tom DeLay got indicted and Democrats maneuvered to get the vote postponed. What do Katrina and the former House Majority Leader have to do with the man slated to be No. 2 at the Justice Department? The answer: Democrats see an opportunity to use "ethics" as a political weapon. Among Mr. Flanigan's qualifications to be Deputy AG are his experience as Deputy White House Counsel in President Bush's first term and his...