August 30, 2007

The resignation of Attorney General Gonzales opens up the opportunity for the president to add to his highest rank of advisors a prosecutor skilled in the investigation, indictment prosecution and conviction of terrorists, a spokesman for the vigorous steps taken over the past years to combat terrorism abroad and at home—someone who is a skilled defender of laws such as the recent revisions to the foreign intelligence surveillance act.

Beltway types have warned the president that nominating the wrong person could lead to a bruising battle with the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, but as we saw during the hearings of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, most of the Democrats on that committee couldn’t bruise a nominee even if given a bag of hammers.

The confirmation hearings of the next Attorney General provide an opportunity to remind the public again of the nature of the war in which we find ourselves, the scale of the threat and the necessity both of a vigorous response and a steady vigilance.

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