Gonzales defends firing prosecutors News
Gonzales defends firing prosecutors

[JURIST] US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales [official profile] defended his role in the firings of federal prosecutors [JURIST news archive] Friday, admitting that there has been some confusion but that his involvement in the matter was limited to signing off on recommendations made by his former chief of staff Kyle Sampson [official profile]. Gonzales told reporters that his motivations for the decisions "were not based on improper reasons." Sampson, who resigned earlier this month [DOJ press release], told the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] Thursday that the prosecutors were fired for political reasons [JURIST report] rather than for poor performance as the Justice Department has claimed [JURIST report]. Sampson also said Gonzales did more than merely follow his recommendations, and that Gonzales and former White House counsel Harriet Miers [official profile] were deeply involved in the firings.

In Friday's White House press briefing White House spokesperson Dana Perino contradicted earlier speculation, and told reporters that despite any reports to the contrary, the President has "100 percent confidence" in Gonzales [press briefing transcript]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.