Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation removes a central figure in the Bush administration's systematic abuse of power. But the damage to the Department of Justice and to the Constitution under his leadership will require decisive Congressional action to undo.

"Alberto Gonzales twisted our Constitution to justify some of this administration's most abhorrent practices: torture and abuse of detainees, unjustified wiretaps, excessive secrecy, and eliminating habeas corpus rights," said Ramona Ripston of the ACLU of Southern California. "His poor judgment and lack of independence undermined the Department of Justice and the impartiality of American law."

As White House counsel, then as Bush's hand-picked attorney general, Gonzales championed policies that eroded civil liberties protections. After September 11, he authored a memo that dismissed the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture as "quaint" and "obsolete," urging "flexibility" to interpret international law as the Bush administration saw fit.

But the Abu Ghraib scandal and allegations of mistreatment of Guantanamo detainees revealed the dangers of this approach.

Gonzales blindly backed the Patriot Act despite serious civil liberties concerns from Republicans and Democrats alike. The FBI underreported, misused and abused the act's National Security Letter authority, which demands people's private records without prior court approval and prohibits them from speaking out about it, even when investigations are flawed.

He also politicized the Department of Justice, drove out experienced attorneys, and replaced them with cronies loyal to the White House. The recent scandal involving the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys showed his failure to demonstrate independence from the White House.

This failure hit hardest at the Civil Rights Division, charged with investigating voting rights abuses and racial profiling. Gonzales reversed the findings of a team of government voting rights lawyers and analysts that concluded a Georgia voter identification law would discriminate against minorities. And his department attempted to bury an unfavorable report on racial profiling.

The ACLU/SC is working to overturn dangerous programs Gonzales supported: Changes to the FISA law involving warrantless wiretaps, the expansion of torture and indefinite detention, and the Military Commissions Act, which eliminated habeas corpus rights. The ACLU/SC is currently suing telecommunications companies that violated customers' rights by complying with unjustified spying programs.

The ACLU/SC calls on Congress to pass legislation that will overturn his legacy of abuse of power and to restore integrity to the Department of Justice through effective oversight.

Photo: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was sworn in by President Bush in February 2005.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation removes a central figure in the Bush administration's systematic abuse of power. But the damage to the Department of Justice and to the Constitution under his leadership will require decisive Congressional action to undo.

"Alberto Gonzales twisted our Constitution to justify some of this administration's most abhorrent practices: torture and abuse of detainees, unjustified wiretaps, excessive secrecy, and eliminating habeas corpus rights," said Ramona Ripston of the ACLU of Southern California. "His poor judgment and lack of independence undermined the Department of Justice and the impartiality of American law."

As White House counsel, then as Bush's hand-picked attorney general, Gonzales championed policies that eroded civil liberties protections. After September 11, he authored a memo that dismissed the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture as "quaint" and "obsolete," urging "flexibility" to interpret international law as the Bush administration saw fit.

But the Abu Ghraib scandal and allegations of mistreatment of Guantanamo detainees revealed the dangers of this approach.

Gonzales blindly backed the Patriot Act despite serious civil liberties concerns from Republicans and Democrats alike. The FBI underreported, misused and abused the act's National Security Letter authority, which demands people's private records without prior court approval and prohibits them from speaking out about it, even when investigations are flawed.

He also politicized the Department of Justice, drove out experienced attorneys, and replaced them with cronies loyal to the White House. The recent scandal involving the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys showed his failure to demonstrate independence from the White House.

This failure hit hardest at the Civil Rights Division, charged with investigating voting rights abuses and racial profiling. Gonzales reversed the findings of a team of government voting rights lawyers and analysts that concluded a Georgia voter identification law would discriminate against minorities. And his department attempted to bury an unfavorable report on racial profiling.

The ACLU/SC is working to overturn dangerous programs Gonzales supported: Changes to the FISA law involving warrantless wiretaps, the expansion of torture and indefinite detention, and the Military Commissions Act, which eliminated habeas corpus rights. The ACLU/SC is currently suing telecommunications companies that violated customers' rights by complying with unjustified spying programs.

The ACLU/SC calls on Congress to pass legislation that will overturn his legacy of abuse of power and to restore integrity to the Department of Justice through effective oversight.

Photo: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was sworn in by President Bush in February 2005.

LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today asked Congress to hold the White House in contempt. Having disregarded the second deadline for compliance with Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenas, the White House, Office of the Vice President and Department of Justice can now be held in contempt of Congress.

The original subpoenas were issued June 27 and sought materials related to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. The White House received an extension in July and the second deadline for compliance was Monday at 2:30 p.m. The ACLU is asking Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the committee to vote to hold the offices in contempt upon Congress' return in September and, if necessary, force compliance through court proceedings.

'This failure to comply with the subpoenas is just the latest attempt to withhold critical information from the American people,' said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. 'We can't just continue to trust them as they accumulate more and more power without public scrutiny. The time has come to hold them accountable and force them to answer questions. We need to know how the government is justifying this illegal, warrantless wiretapping program.'

In the first effort of its kind, the ACLU filed a request on August 8 with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting that it disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans. In their aggressive push to justify passing this ill-advised legislation, the administration and members of Congress made repeated and veiled references to orders issued by the FISC earlier this year. On August 17th, the court said the request was "unprecedented" and required the government to respond to the ACLU's request by August 31.

The ACLU is also continuing its challenge in the courts to the president's illegal wiretapping plan. In July, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's decision declaring the NSA program unconstitutional and ruled that the ACLU's clients — scholars, journalists, and national nonprofit organizations — were not entitled to sue because they could not state with certainty that they had been secretly wiretapped by the NSA. The ACLU is currently weighing its options, including an appeal to the Supreme Court.

'Runaway executive privilege and warrantless spying on Americans are two issues our membership feels passionately about because they directly impact our Constitution,' said Susanne Savage, ACLU/SC's Field Director. 'Because of these breaches to our country's most sacred document, the ACLU/SC will be launching a new project, Campaign for Our Constitution, to help bring back checks and balances and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.'

The campaign and its website, www.ourconstitution.net will launch after Labor Day.