I agree with Ashton that it is a bad idea -- an awful idea -- to have the DoJ's Civil Rights Division…
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Ashton Right, Mukasey Off (Slightly)

I agree with Ashton that it is a bad idea -- an awful idea -- to have the DoJ's Civil Rights Division investigate the IRS scandal. I also agree with Ashton that in the short run, the best thing of all is to keep letting Congress (and the press) investigate this outrage, and let the body politic be the judge. In fact, that's what Andy McCarthy argues today at National Review Online, with superb reasoning:

The Framers would have been astounded at the notion that Congress’s responsibility to ensure the proper working of government could be delegated to an unaccountable prosecutor. The paramount question is whether the government is out of control, not whether some mid-level official (or even a higher official) can be convicted by a jury.

Indeed, I think there is some agreement between Mukasey…[more]

May 23, 2013 • 10:22 am

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Question of the Week   
In which one of the following years did Congress pass the first Naturalization Act governing aliens in and immigrants to the United States?
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Quote of the Day   
 
"The Fifth Amendment privilege is not designed to protect the innocent. The innocent do not need protection from the truth (just from the IRS). The privilege is designed to protect the bedrock principle that the burden of proof is always on the government and, derivatively, that a person is never required to prove his innocence. (No surprise, I suppose, that an IRS official is unfamiliar with these…[more]
 
 
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review Institute Senior Fellow and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
— Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review Institute Senior Fellow and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney
 
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