washington -- As Alberto R. Gonzales closes the door on his Washington career, he leaves an enduring legacy: a Justice Department mired in controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys and a series of legal and moral challenges to his post-Sept. 11 policies on presidential power, torture and domestic spying.
"This resignation is not the end of the story," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday in a statement that indicated Democrats' intent to continue probing Gonzales' tenure. "Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House."
The controversies lingering beyond Gonzales' scheduled departure next month fall into two broad categories: whether he went too far in abridging civil liberties in the name of safeguarding the nation against terrorist threats, and whether he and his subordinates allowed political considerations to intrude improperly on the administration of justice.
During his service as White House counsel from 2001 to 2005, Gonzales wrote a memo saying that anti-torture laws and the Geneva Convention could be waived for some prisoners. He approved or oversaw the drafting of rules for military tribunals that limited the rights of detainees, and he pushed for expanded government power to engage in domestic spying. Then came the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.
Gonzales' actions reflected his loyalty to George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney but drew heated criticism from others -- including Congress and, in the case of military tribunals, the Supreme Court.
History will render final judgment on the controversies in Gonzales' wake, but even some Republicans agree that the Justice Department's morale and credibility have been damaged as it faces mounting challenges.
Defense lawyers around the country are contesting indictments based on alleged politicization of the department. The administration's treatment of detainees in its war on terrorism is under attack in federal courts. And several senior department officials have left or have announced their intention to depart, including the chief of the civil rights division, whose record also has drawn fire from Democrats.
A Gonzales defender, Viet D. Dinh -- who served as assistant attorney general from 2001 to 2003 and was the architect of the Patriot Act -- said Monday that Gonzales' accomplishments were obscured by a personal style that often clashed with Capitol Hill.
