Ted Stevens Walks

Hmmmm
Holder's willing to react to prosecuter misconduct in a corruption trial, but wholesale DOJ misconduct in NSA cases: not so much.
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/greenwald/greenwald30.html

KT-I take it the response you were waiting for from Treasury is so voluminous you are still wading through it.

Just a question,
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Does anyone think that the prosecutors (them being Bush hires and knowing the politicization of the branch at the time) might have screwed this up intentionally, giving the defense and any decent judge a good justification for releasing a Republican in good standing?
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I've just wondered how ANYONE could be that incompetent while trying to do their job on this.

Karen,
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How long have these "dull blades" been there? Are they the equivalent of the "loyal" Regency College scholars who have entertained and served us for the past eight years?
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Or just someone decent but in 'way over their heads?

Brenda Morris (along with William Welch II) was the lead prosecutor in the case against then-Senator Ted Stevens. In October, 2008, the federal judge overseeing the trial took Ms. Morris to task for committing blatant prosecutorial misconduct twice in the Stevens case. That rebuke was not enough.
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Ms. Morris and her boss lied to a federal judge again!
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The Public Integrity Section has taken plenty of lumps from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan over the course of the case of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted of corruption charges in October. By the looks of these court pleadings filed Thursday, it can expect a few more.
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In an attached letter dated Jan. 30, the section's director, William Welch II, told the judge he "deeply regrets the drain on the court's resources and loss of credibility in the court's eyes."
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More here. Will anyone investigate Ms. Morris or Mr. Welch? If not, why not? How many more times are they going to lie to the court before facing discipline?
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People often wonder how Mike Nifong could indict three innocent young men. Yet look at Morris and Welch. Neither will face any punishment for their unethical conduct. So who can blame people like Mike Nifong from seeing exactly how much they can get away with?
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http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/2009/02/brenda-morris-along-with-william-welch-ii-is-at-it-again.html

Will this mean conservatives praising Holder as a “fair and balanced” AG who disregards politics in favor of competency and the right thing to do? Um…no.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

Thanks, gunny.
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I think the part about repeatedly lying answers the question for me.
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At least the "decent" part . . .

I would fall all over myself praising Holder for this--first there's this: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDE3NWJhNTkxYzJmMmJkOTQ5ZWU3Y2U1ZTFlZDMxOTc=
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Second, this is an easy call for them. Stevens is gone, the victim of the Bush Justice Dept. (although I don't feel sorry for Stevens, as the evidence was pretty damning). Plus, all these guys are in the club.

Is Holder going after bigger fish? Like Jack Murtha (D) Pennsylvania?????
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Oh wait a minute, corruption in DC is no different than the corruption in Chicago, why else would they not want to touch an ex-Senator from Alaska.
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I suppose we will see a story on this too, right Karen Tumulty?

spob!
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The end must be near! I find myself agreeing with pretty much everything you said above.
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Thanks for the comments.

Actually, though, it's more like justice itself could be described as a "victim of the Bush Justice Department".
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But I get your point.

Karen,
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Thanks for the response. Your interaction with us is greatly appreciated. Hope it's contagious among your co-workers. They could use more of it.

spob,
Thanks for those links.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/31/AR2009033104426.html?hpid=topnews
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Living as I do in a territory and not a State I am sympathetic to the plight of disenfranchised DC residents but the Constitution itself is rather clear on the point. No State - No vote.
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Anyone who cares to argue around that is showing a clear preference for expedience over principles.

Let me get this right, KT. The PUBLIC INTEGRITY section has had a BAD reputation for a LONG time!

The PUBLIC INTEGRITY section has had a BAD reputation for a LONG time!
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bitterpill,
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I have no doubt that the statement Karen made is spot on. Only one word I can think of to describe that -
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Sad - very, very sad. For the country.

I can see a distinction between prosecutorial misconduct in failure to disclose routine evidence to the defense, on one hand, and efforts to preserve the confidentiality of claimed national security info on the other. A new administration certainly isn't going to be quick to start publishing classified stuff while it figures out what legitimately does and what doesn't need to be concealed. Failure to disclose ordinary exculpatory evidence to the defense, however, is a gross denial of basic due process – at least in the absence of valid national security issues. It looks like the Stevens case is just an instance of prosecutors not doing their job lawfully.
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I share Paul Dirks's concern over the possibility of excessive concealment of evidence on national security grounds, but somebody has to make that call initially. So far I still feel better when it's the current DOJ than when the previous Gang that Couldn't Talk Straight automatically assumed the necessity of concealment of everything all the time. Meanwhile, the Stevens action is a significant slapdown of prosecutorial impropriety and an overall good omen for both small-j justice and capital-j Justice.

i suspect that this is not a very fun place to work, which means that the best and the brightest do their best to go elsewhere. but that is pure conjecture on my part.
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Karen,
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Based on experience while employed the government, I think you are probably right about this. Still, lying shouldn't be thought of as part of anyone's job description, no matter how crappy the job is. Especially when it obviously jeopardizes an investigation. They know what they need to be doing.
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But I do understand . . . it's how imperfect people act at times. Too bad, though.

afguy: I wasn't questioning KT. It is IRONIC that the PUBLIC INTEGRITY section misled the defence attorneys and the judge.

bitterpill,
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Don't worry - I got the irony. Had the same thought too.

Siegleman's next.
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Freeing Stevens gives Holder cover to investigate and prosecute Rove and his co-conspirators.

bitterpill,
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If I beat my head against the keyboard every time I felt like doing so lately, I'd have no head left.
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I just keep asking myself: what in the he** has happened to this country? I never needed to be told that a lot of this was wrong when I was growing up. Why is it happening now?