The U.S. Attorney General is the highest law-enforcement officer in the land, so it follows that he or she should have a stellar record when it comes to protecting basic civil rights. But President Bush's nominee, current White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, doesn't fit the bill. That's why 30 prominent civil rights leaders, organized by the Leadership Council On Civil Rights, sent a letter to the ranking members of the Judiciary Committee highlighting some of the actions on Gonzales' resumé. Among them: arguing that the Geneva Convention didn't apply to the war in Afghanistan; altering the way the United States could be bound by laws prohibiting torture; and declaring people as "enemy combatants" to place them outside the law's reach. The letter calls for a "full and fair" judicial hearing that include the diverse voices of the people who would be affected by an Attorney General Gonzales' interpretation of the law. SEE THE LETTER
