There is a reason the Bush Administration is issuing directives to prevent its own USAttys from enforcing the laws — only for Bush Administration cronies, though. Via Alterman:
Is not the administration's position that they would not permit the U.S. Attorney to prosecute a Congressional Contempt referral an implicit admission that they allow politics to impact prosecutions? They are admitting that they would interfere with the independent judgment of a prosecutor on a specific case. I suggest that this is precisely what the firings of the U.S. Attorneys are ultimately about.
Yes, they serve at the pleasure of the president, but they do not prosecute at the pleasure of the president. The White House is guilty of taking the blindfold off lady justice, not just covering her breasts. I am a former DOJ lawyer, for what that is worth.
http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200707250008#9Is the Gonzales silence protecting Junior President Bush? Or Tony Vice President Cheney? Or both? And shouldn’t we find that out…pronto? And isn’t it time the folks in the media started taking a fresh look at all the public statements, op-eds, and ranty bits from all the hypocritical, bloviating Republicans who now say that obstructing justice by claiming a nonexistant, overly broad executive privilege is a-okay?
http://www.firedoglake.com/category/us-attorney-firings/