Georgetown Law Professor, civil liberties expert and Ashcroft critic David Cole compares Ascroft and Gonzales in the new edition of Newsweek. First, his assessment of Ashcroft.

I think his legacy is going to be as one of the worst attorney generals we’ve ever had, not only in terms of the constitutional freedoms this country stands for but also in terms of national security.

Cole is not optimistic about Gonzales. He raises Gonzales' reference to the Geneva Conventions as "quaint" and his refusal to apply its protections to Guantanamo Detainees. He adds:

We also know from a New York Times account of the debates that surrounded the development of the military tribunal policy down in Guantanamo that in those debates John Ashcroft was actually the voice of reason and Alberto Gonzales was lined up with the most extreme right-wing voices arguing that there should be virtually no rights to the people who are being tried—in some cases for the death penalty.

Cole doesn't predict how the Senate will vote on Gonzales' confirmation. But he says his record, particularly on the torture issue and the Guantanamo detainees, should give Senators pause.

Update: Joe Conasen has this analysis of Gonzales at Salon. Chris Brauchli adds his thoughts in Re-writing the Geneva Convention.

Via Uggabugger, found at Atrios:

Now that Alberto "The Geneva Convention is obsolete" Gonzales is slated to become the head of the Department of Justice, we can look forward to a new attitude - and a new seal:

Translation: The ends justify the means (Other Latin expression pages are here and here.)

Update: Cheney has left the hospital. He feels great, says his wife Lynn.

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Bump and Update: What happens if Dick Cheney resigns due to health reasons? According to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1967:

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Nixon was the first to use the Amendment when Spiro Agnew resigned. He appointed Gerald Ford, who later became President when Nixon resigned.

Wouldn't this be quite the November surprise?

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Vice President Dick Cheney has checked himself into a hospital after experiencing shortness of breath.

Michael Crowley at Slate takes an in-depth look at James Dobson of Focus on the Family, whom Josh Marshall calls the Grand Inquisitor and Yuval at Left Coaster calls the Ayatollah Next Door. [links via Dem from CT at Daily Kos and Memorandum]

Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin outlines his opposition to Bush's pick of Alberto Gonazales for Attorney General and speaking points in the event he is confirmed:

It is time for those who think the Bush Administration has gone too far to stand up to the President, to make the legal case against his Administration's policies and appointments. For years conservatives railed against judicial activism. It is time for liberals to start railing against government officials-- including judges-- who show disrespect for basic Rule of Law values, who flout basic protections of American constitutional law and international human rights law, and who seek to concentate ever greater power in an unaccountable executive.

Many people think the role of Attorney General is simply to be the nation's "top cop," the chief criminal law enforcer. But it is much more. The role of the Attorney General is to serve as America's lawyer, in civil as well as criminal matters. He is not the President's lawyer. He is our lawyer.

It is critical that the Senate evaluate the past record of a nominee for Attorney General in its "advise and consent" role. While Senators prefer to give deference to a President's choice in cabinet positions, they cannot merely serve as a rubber stamp.

John Ashcroft was the most controversial nominee for Attorney General ever. All but one Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Russ Feingold, of all people) voted against Ashcroft. Their arguments are worth re-reading for a sense of to expect when Alberto Gonzales faces the same test.

Here are some selected quotes I've put together from the 59-page FDCH transcript of the Senate Judiciary committee hearing held on January 30, 2001, at which the vote was 10 to 8 to send Ashcroft's nomination on to the full Senate (transcript available at Lexis.com,) followed by some thoughts as to what likely will happen with Alberto Gonzales:

Check out this congratulatory letter from Bob Jones, the head of Bob Jones University to President Bush on winning re-election. It's absolutely scary.

Between Jones, Dobson and Jerry Falwell, we have our work cut out for us the next four years.

Many are opposed to Bush's nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Some are skeptical. I'm on the fence, only because I fear that the alternatives would be worse.

• Center for Constitutional Rights

• People for the American Way

• Human Rights First

• Boston Globe Editorial

• New York Times (90% is about Ashcroft, Gonzales seems to get the benefit of any doubts.)

Here is Alberto Gonzales' much critized memo to President Bush (pdf)

Here is Colin Powell's response to the memo. (pdf)

And some news articles:

Focus on the Family, a radical right group from Colorado Springs founded by uber-evangelical James Dobson, is already making demands on Alberto Gonzales. In a press release issued today, the Group stated:

"It will now be Mr. Gonzalez's duty to defend the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act against the federal court challenges that have blocked its implementation -- a duty handled admirably by Attorney General Ashcroft. American families will also look to Mr. Gonzalez to aggressively prosecute obscenity cases against pornographers who continue to flout federal law.

"We expect these issues and other policy priorities of the president will be carried out by Mr. Gonzalez with excellence."

Dobson was one of those pushing out the evangelical vote for Bush.

Just days before one of the closest and most contentious presidential elections in history, Dr. James Dobson will call on every pro-family American to cast his or her vote on Nov. 2. This call to Christian duty will air in two special broadcasts on his nationally-syndicated "Focus on the Family" radio program on Oct. 25 and 26..... "Do you know that in the year 2000," he said, "four million evangelicals did not go to the polls? Do you know that more than 25 million Christians of various stripes – Catholics, mainline, other perspectives – did not register and did not vote? That is an outrage. And it must not happen again."

If you really want to lose your lunch, check out his "must read election message."

Welcome to the theocracy.

I just received this from a former very high-ranking official of the Justice Department (under Clinton) (and TalkLeft reader), whose opinion I hold in especially high regard:

The apparent nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General is a mixed blessing for progressives. It is fair to say that Gonzales is not nearly as bad as we might have expected. He is by no means a hard core ideologue, and he would not be likely to aggressively pursue a far right agenda. on his own By temperament he is a moderate, even if his views are far more conservative than we would wish. His record as a judge, while conservative, was not outrageous; indeed, it's commonly believed that he may not have been acceptable to the far right as a Supreme Court nominee. And what little leaks out of this Administration suggests that Gonzales was not a moving force behind most of the Administration's most outrageous legal positions.

Here are some interesting pieces of information about Alberto Gonzales who apparently will be our new Attorney General, from TalkLeft archives:

• He disagreed with President Bush's nomination of Priscilla Owen for a 5th Circuit judgeship:

The [New York] Times points out that at one time even President Bush's own White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzales, charged Owen (in a dissenting opinion) with engaging in "unconscionable . . . judicial activism."

The Houston Chronicle stated in a July, 2002 editorial, "It doesn't take a raving pinko to catch on to Owen's act. Actually, it was pointed out very astutely by Alberto R. Gonzales, now Bush's White House counsel, when he was on the state's top civil court with her."

• He was considered to be one of Bush's top choices for the Supreme Court.

• He authored 57 death row clemency opinions for President Bush. The Atlantic Monthly wrote:

As the legal counsel to Texas Governor George W. Bush, Alberto R. Gonzales — now the White House counsel, and widely regarded as a likely future Supreme Court nominee—prepared 57 confidential death-penalty memoranda for Bush's review. Never before discussed publicly, the memoranda suggest that Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in the cases at hand.

The memos can be read by Atlantic Monthly subscribers here.

Update: It's a done deal. Bush has named him.

White House officials say Alberto Gonazales most likely will be the next Attorney General.

Update: Looks like the choice is Alberto Gonzales. Now there will be a vacancy in the White House Counsel's office. One of the two lawyers considered as a likely replacement is Harriet Miers, Bush's personal lawyer.

I've served with Harriet on a legal board (non-criminal law related) and like her. Everyone on the board liked her and was sorry when she resigned. I hope she gets the job, if she wants it.