September 2007
- September 6, 2007 - Peter Keisler, Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division of the DOJ announces his resignation from the Department of Justice effective September 21, 2007. Keisler states he desires to "spend time with his family." On June 29, 2006 Bush forwarded to the Senate the nomination of Keisler to serve on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, to fill the position vacated by then Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The Senate has not acted on the nomination.
- September 14, 2007 - In the morning Gonzales gave a speech remarking on his hopes and accomplishments, without mentioning the issues that led to is resignation. That afternoon Gonzales is feted in a standing-room only farewell ceremony at the DOJ. Notable attendees include, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former White House chief of staff Andy Card; Card's wife, the Rev. Kathleen Card, who said a short prayer at the beginning of the ceremony, former solicitor general Theodore Olson.
- September 17, 2007 - Alberto Gonzales's term in office ends 12:01 am on September 17, 2007. Soon after departure from the DOJ, continuing inquiries by Congress and the Justice Department lead Gonzales to hire a criminal-defense lawyer George Terwilliger, partner at White & Case, and former deputy attorney general under former president G.H.W. Bush. Terwiliger was on the Republican law team involved in Florida presidential election recount battle of 2000.
- September 17, 2007 - President Bush announces his nomination of former circuit court judge Michael B. Mukasey to serve as Attorney General, subject to confirmation by the Senate. President Bush also announces a surprise appointment: Peter Keisler is to become acting Attorney General, superseding his previous August 27, 2007 appointment of Solicitor General Paul Clement as acting Attorney General. According to administration officials, Paul Clement took the acting AG office at 12:01 AM September 17, 2007, and left office 24 hours later. Apparently the appointment change was made the day before, on Sunday, with no consultation with Justice Department officials. The last-minute change is reported to add an additional element of uncertainty to working at the DOJ. Nearly every top senior official has resigned over the course of the Gonzales administration of the DOJ. Keisler is the Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division.
- September 18, 2007 - Peter Keisler enters office as acting Attorney General, as of 12:01 am.
Read more about this topic: Dismissal Of U.S. Attorneys Controversy Timeline, 2007
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“This seems a long while ago, and yet it happened since Milton wrote his Paradise Lost. But its antiquity is not the less great for that, for we do not regulate our historical time by the English standard, nor did the English by the Roman, nor the Roman by the Greek.... From this September afternoon, and from between these now cultivated shores, those times seemed more remote than the dark ages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)