As you probably already know, Alberto Gonzalez announced his resignation today.  He said he won’t be stepping down until September 17.  And Harry Reid has apparently made some deal with Bush that Bush won’t do any recess appointments while Congress is out of session.

However, don’t you think we should know better than to trust any deal with Bush? 

Already there is a push from the right to do a recess appointment according to Josh Marshall. 

We need to cut off this option by getting on our leadership and our individual state Senators to have a pro forma session in Congress, which could forestall Bush from appointing anyone without Senate confirmation.  These are not normal times – we need to do this. 

My suggestion: Call Harry Reid, and ask that he do a proforma session as a preventative measure.

Call Feinstein and Boxer, and ask them to get Reid to do a proforma session and, because it’s so important, to offer to participate in it themselves.

I think that last part is key, because if Reid doesn’t get any volunteers, he’s not going to be able to do it. 

Capital Hill operator: 202-224-3121

If enough people make the 3 calls, we could get their attention. 

I wanted to take this opportunity to praise my congressman, Adam Schiff. He’s technically a blue dog and if I have one complaint about him it’s that he plays it way too safe for no apparent reason — he won 64% of the vote last year. So, lately, it’s been nice to see him step up (with votes in support of withdrawal from Iraq and an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Bill to strengthen FISA) and step out into the spotlight on USAGate.

As a former assistant US Attorney in Los Angeles and a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Schiff has brought his expertise and credibility to bear in the Gonzalez hearings (notably telling Gonzalez he felt he should resign to his face.) Today, Congressman Schiff has introduced the House version of the no-confidence resolution against Gonzalez.

More over the flip.

According to Raw Story, the resolution reads:

Resolved: That the House of Representatives and the American people have lost confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and urge the President to request his resignation and to nominate a new candidate more capable of serving as head of the Department of Justice.

In a statement, Schiff said:

“I have been deeply disappointed in Mr. Gonzales’s mismanagement of the Justice Department, his conflicting statements and testimony, and the low regard he seems to have for the professionals in his charge.”

As you can see from this blog entry from his website, Schiff takes this matter very personally.

I told the Attorney General that I spent six years in the Justice Department, that I loved my time in that department and the department itself, and that I was ill over what the Justice Department had become under his tenure. I also told him that to claim, as he did, that there was nothing improper in firing a U.S. Attorney – in firing a good prosecutor – for no other reason than to make way to put someone else there and pad their resume, for the Attorney General to say that reflected a level of disrespect towards his own staff that I found deeply disturbing. I told the Attorney General that I thought the department was broken, that I did not think that he was the one to fix it. I also told him that I thought he should resign. I have never called for a Cabinet official to resign in their presence, but by setting the bar for the department so low, I think the Attorney General left me no choice.

Conventional wisdom is that a vote of no-confidence is much more likely to pass in the Senate than in the House but if Sen. Specter is correct, the mere prospect of a no-confidence vote may be enough to incite Gonzo’s resignation.

Thanks, Rep. Schiff for keeping the pressure on this sorry excuse for an Attorney General.

And in a related story, you can help call for Gonzalez’s impeachment HERE.