Todd Blanche and the Justice Department Independence

The headline was basic: “Blanche refuses to pledge DOJ independence from White House.”

The very first sentence from the Yahoo News story read: “Attorney General Todd Blanche said he would consider President Donald Trump‘s views on prosecutions, rejecting the notion of an independent Department of Justice.” (RELATED: Corruption on a Larger Scale Than Watergate Just Happened Right Under Our Noses)

In short, Washington was having a fainting spell because of that last part of the sentence above. The notion that Attorney General Todd Blanche was “rejecting the notion of an independent Department of Justice.” (RELATED: As AG, Todd Blanche Will Finally Seek Justice for Dems’ Dirty Lawfare)

Oh, the horrors! More to the point, there was the Washington Establishment’s lack of irony on full display.

Question? What is the name emblazoned on the literal headquarters building of the Department of Justice?

Answer: That name would be Robert F. Kennedy.

Which is to say the literal Department of Justice headquarters is named for one of the most high-profile and decidedly political attorneys general in American history. That would be the father of today’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: one Robert F. Kennedy Sr. RFK senior was in fact attorney general in the first place because he was the brother and close confidant/presidential campaign manager of, yes indeed, his brother, the then-sitting president of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

I should say from the start that RFK Sr. was and still is one of my own youthful political heroes. As a teenager, I was a big fan when RFK Sr. was running for president in 1968, and was shattered when he met the same fate as his assassinated presidential brother. By the grace of my Nixon-loving Mom, she accompanied me to New York in 1968 so that I could stand in line for a while to get into St. Patrick’s Cathedral and solemnly touch RFK’s casket that was on display for Americans to say a final goodbye.

The point here is quite simple. The very headquarters of the Department of Justice is named for RFK, who, in his day, was seen as a seriously political attorney general who was his presidential brother’s right hand in matters that involved not just the Department of Justice but presidential decisions from civil rights to the Cuban Missile Crisis to taking on the U.S. steel industry over price increases to pure politics and more.

And no, there was nothing in the least wrong with RFK’s involvement in all those many matters, political or otherwise.

In the day, RFK’s nomination to be attorney general was opposed not just by Republicans but by the likes of the liberal The New York Times. The Times huffed in an editorial denouncing RFK’s selection:

“It is simply not good enough to name a bright young political manager, no matter how bright or how young or how personally loyal to a major post in government that by rights (if not by precedent) ought to be kept completely out of the political arena.”

And today RFK’s name is literally on the building. Which is to say, history has spoken.

The point being quite simple. The hard fact of life in Washington is that the very position of attorney general is, in fact, political. In looking back, the long list of U.S. attorneys general is filled with the names of those who were, in fact, political advisors to the president (or presidents!) of the day. That they served both as attorney general and advisors on whatever subject — political or otherwise — that their president asked of them is, at this point, long established in history.

Among those names are Edwin Meese III (Reagan), Griffin Bell (Carter), Herbert Brownell Jr. (Eisenhower), Eric Holder (Obama), Richard Thornburgh (Reagan and Bush 41) and now Pam Bondi (Trump).

It is, plainly put, silly to pretend that the position of attorney general does not automatically bring with it a 24-7 dealing with the politics of the day. It is not simply true now; it has always been so.

All of which is to say the fact that Attorney General Todd Blanche says he “would consider President Donald Trump‘s views on prosecutions, rejecting the notion of an independent Department of Justice” is nothing more than routine in Washington.

What Attorney General Blanche is saying is nothing more than what has been done by a long list of attorneys general over the decades. There is nothing in the least either new or unusual in his saying this.

Which is to say, the mini-hubbub being raised by Blanche critics over the issue of the independence of the Department of Justice is one big nothing. America has had a long list — a very long list — of attorneys general who long ago settled the issue of the role of any White House in dealing with the Department of Justice.

But if the critics want to persist? Then they should start by removing Robert Kennedy’s name from the building.

Ain’t gonna happen. And more to the point, it shouldn’t.

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