cover image In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration

In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration

David Iglesias. John Wiley & Sons, $25.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-470-26197-2

A U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico from 2000 to 2007, Iglesias has written an eye-opening account of his role in exposing the Justice Department scandal that began with the firing of seven District Attorneys and ended (arguably) with the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Talented, Hispanic, evangelical, a military veteran and a loyal Bush supporter, Iglesias's star was still on the rise when, in late 2006, he was asked to resign his job. All he could learn was that the decision had come ""from on high,"" and that he was only one of seven asked to resign the same day. On this guided tour, Iglesias claims shocking attempts to ""co-opt the Justice Department for political ends"" with statements that as early as 2003, U.S. Attorneys were being pressured to purge Democrats from voter rolls wherever possible; Iglesias says he was thrown under the bus after refusing to release sealed details of an ongoing prosecution that would scandalize Democratic contenders in a local 2006 race. Iglesias's text, like his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, implicates a number of big dogs, including Gonzales and Karl Rove, as well as the President. Thorough and troubling, this record is a must-read for anyone who got caught up in the unfolding controversy.