Updated not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.

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Tuesday August 12, 2008 · 12:44 PM PDT

2008/08/12 · 12:44

So speaks Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The full quote from the article Justice Staffers Won't Be Prosecuted For Illegal Hiring Practices is "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws."

I agree that not every violation of the law needs to be prosecuted. But to say that a violation of the law is not a crime, is ridiculous. Next I expect to hear Attorney General argue that anyone in the executive branch who violates a law has not committed a crime.

Everyone should be furious about the Attorney General's statements. Yet few have even heard about the statement. Where is the media on this important issue.

Then let's get to what the issue is about, hiring illegally to promote a political agenda as expressly forbidden in the law. So now we know that the Attorney General is upholding the right to uphold only laws illegally hired attorneys decide to uphold. When those attorneys choose not to uphold a law, then breaking the law was not a crime.

Yeah, another short diary. No apologies.

Violating a civil service act may result in disciplinary action against the person who violated the act. The Justice department could easily have taken disciplinary action against each person who violated the act and fined them up to 1000 dollars for each violation.

What Mukassey was doing was telling lawyers why he was not prosecuting (prosecution is not involved here) as opposed to what he was telling the world which was that he was not taking disciplinary action, a much simpler option.

Fines of 1000 dollars for each violation would send a clear message. It also sounds like a prosecution, though it isn't. So why doesn't Mukassey tell the truth?

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