Originally published at National Catholic Register
Commentary: The de-politicization of the Department of Justice, not its reverse politicization, should be the order of the day.
No one understands the modern news cycle better than President-elect Donald Trump.
His lightning-quick pivot from the failed attorney general nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, giving his critics scarcely any time to gloat, is the latest example of his media mastery.
That’s not to say his pick of Gaetz wasn’t a blunder — it was. (That is, unless it was all a clever scheme to extricate the rebel Gaetz from the House, as some have theorized.) Gaetz was never a plausible attorney general, possessing neither a distinguished legal mind nor the principled background any good AG needs to curb a president’s imprudent uses of the law.
More worrisome was that Gaetz had spoken openly about seeking vengeance against his political rivals, which is precisely what the Justice Department doesn’t need right now.
The de-politicization of the DOJ, not its reverse politicization, should be the order of the day. Political retribution will not restore our federal justice system to its proper place as the envy of the free world. It would only further degrade
