A true man of principle

I don't really know whether the Jefferson raid violated the Constitutional principle of the seperation of powers, though Josh Marshall seems to think that it didn't. What I do know is that this is ridiculous.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, and senior officials and career prosecutors at the Justice Department told associates this week that they were prepared to quit if the White House directed them to relinquish evidence seized in a bitterly disputed search of a House member's office, government officials said Friday.

Mr. Gonzales was joined in raising the possibility of resignation by the deputy attorney general, Paul J. McNulty, the officials said. Mr. Gonzales and Mr. McNulty told associates that they had an obligation to protect evidence in a criminal case and would be unwilling to carry out any White House order to return the material to Congress.

Gonzales, of course, is a guy whose most notable contribution to the Bush presidency was as the chief pettifogger in charge of an effort to provide legal cover for a worlwide program of secret detention and torture.

Now we know that there's a line he just won't cross.