Gregg Nunziata in The Washington Post
Executive Director Gregg Nunziata and our Rule of Law Summit were featured in The Washington Post:
But some conservative lawyers believe Gaetz may go too far. Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, a conservative group critical of Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric, said an attorney general has two roles: as the president’s lieutenant on legal policies and as the more independent chief law enforcement officer.
“I think many people see this nomination and see how he could be a good fit for the first role, but struggle to see how he would be suitable for the second role,” Nunziata said. “You need an attorney general who can perform both those functions and who understands where one ends and the other begins.”
Alberto R. Gonzales, the former attorney general under President George W. Bush, expressed deep concerns about the incoming administration and warned of the “dangerous” implications if the Justice Department loses its independence from the White House.
“It’s very important that the Department of Justice have the liberty, the flexibility to make law enforcement decisions without political influence by the White House,” Gonzales said during a gathering Wednesday night of the Society for the Rule of Law in D.C.
“Part of my concern is the fact that there may be a desire by the incoming administration to sort of limit the authority of the Department of Justice to make decisions that it has made historically with respect to investigations and prosecutions,” he told the room filled with Republican lawyers at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Georgetown.