The AG Purge And Martial Law

I've been watching the purge of US Attorneys conducted by the White House even if I haven't been posting about it. But Libby at The Impolitic has a bad feeling, and in thinking about it I got that same bad feeling too.

The terminated AGs are being replaced with White House loyalists who are long on political connections but short on legal experience. Worse yet they are being appointed to indefinite terms without having to be confirmed by the Senate, which was the customary manner in which replacements would be made. This little trick was made possible by a sneaky little provision slipped into the reauthorization of the Patriot Act by the White House at the last minute.

You remember the Patriot Act, that 342 page set of new rules that was purportedly passed to allow the government to circumvent our civil rights in order to "protect" us against terrorists. Can anyone figure out how exactly this provision is aiding in that mission?

This is clearly not a performance based housecleaning -- it's an ideological purge. Wiser minds than mine are speculating this has something to do with the death penalty. But taken together with another recent "dead of night" provision slipped into a defense bill by the White House effectively negating posse comitatus, I think it gives the warnings of myself and others about the danger of an impending police state a whole lot more creedence.

Hmmm. It will be interesting to see who is most opposed to the bipartisan bill which aims to repeal Bush's martial law provisions, that's for sure.