Glynn Wilson of Locust Fork World News & Journal provides some excellent historical context on the evolving U.S. Attorneys scandal, particularly as it pertains to Alabama.
The firing of nine U.S. Attorneys late last year brought to light the politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Bush administration. The prosecution and sentencing of former Governor Don Siegelman, featuring Dana Jill Simpson's affidavit indicating the prosecution was politically motivated, has put Alabama at the heart of the DOJ scandal.
But Wilson shows that the politicization of the justice system in Alabama goes back at least to the 1980s. That was when the Reagan Justice Department investigated Richard Arrington, the first black mayor of Birmingham. Wilson quotes Arrington as saying that Richard Scrushy, who was turning HealthSouth into a corporate powerhouse at the time, was one of the first white public figures to stand up for Arrington. Interestingly, Scrushy now is in federal prison along with Siegelman.
Some excellent analysis by Wilson. Shows that justice in the Deep South has been racially and politically driven for years
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