Some attorneys think Gonzales may be ripe to be disbarred Michael Roston

Published: Wednesday May 30, 2007 Print This Email This Some attorneys looking at the ethical issues raised by the firing of 8 US Attorneys think a case could be made that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be disbarred, according to a report in today's New York Observer. "It depends crucially on what the facts are...Given the most unfavorable interpretation, theres clearly a case for disbarment," David Luban, a law professor at the Georgetown University told the paper's Anna Schneider-Mayerson. Gonzales could face trouble with the Texas Bar Association for reportedly asking his former aide Monica Goodling to discuss her recollection of the process that led to the firing of the Attorneys. He later told Congressional committees that he had avoided discussing the controversy with any of his employees in order to allow an internal investigation to proceed. His participation as White House Counsel in a hospital room meeting with an ill Attorney General John Ashcroft to gain legal certification for a National Security Agency spying program could also place him into additional jeopardy. "By seeking to advance an illegal scheme with the advantage of D.O.J. approval....Gonzales seriously interfered with the administration of justice," Stephen Gillers, a New York University Law School ethicist,told the Observer. Still, others think action against the Attorney General's ability to practice law is unlikely. "The state-bar associations are never going to take the lead unless Congress does something, Charles Silver, a University of Texas law professor told the paper, suggesting that the case was less open and shut than the five year suspension of President Bill Clinton's law license in Arkansas after he lied about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. The full New York Observer article can be accessed at this link.



