For those of you eager to relive Alberto Gonzales' hearing from two weeks ago, you're in luck. Gonzales is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee next Thursday, May 10.
Along with the expected questions about the U.S. attorney firings (does he remember anything more now?), it will be a chance for members of Congress to ask Gonzales why he approved an order last year that gave 30-something aides Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling, both of whom were very close to the White House, the power to hire and fire junior political appointees (135 positions total) in the department. As Murray Waas reported yesterday, "The existence of the order suggests that a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level."
There are a host of unanswered questions about the order, besides the obvious "why?"
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