In Justice: An Insider's Account of the War on Law and Truth in the Executive Branch by David Iglesias, Davin Seay (With)

From the Publisher

The Bush administration's drive to politicize the Justice Department reached a new low with the wrongful firing of seven U.S. Attorneys in late 2006. Their action has ignited public outrage on a scale that far surpassed the reaction to any of the Bush administration's other political debacles. David Iglesias was one of those federal prosecutors, and now he tells his story.

Iglesias has long served in the Navy as part of the JAG corps. One of his earliest cases, about an assaulted Marine in Guantanamo Bay, became the basis for the movie A Few Good Men. When Bush chose him to become the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, it was a dream come true. He was a core member of Karl Rove's idealized Republican Party of the future — handsome, Hispanic, evangelical, and a military veteran. The dream came to an abrupt end when Senator Pete Domenici improperly called Iglesias, wanting him to indict high-level Democrats before the 2006 elections. When Iglesias refused, the line went dead. Iglesias was fired just weeks later. First, he was devastated. Then, he was angry. Now, he is speaking out.

Iglesias recounts his interactions with Bush, Rove, Alberto Gonzales, and other key players as he takes readers into his time at the Justice Department to reveal what top Republican officials said and did, and how they subverted justice.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

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.
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Rachel Bridgewater - Library Journal

The politically motivated firings of seven U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration in late 2006 became a major scandal in the following year. Iglesias, one of those fired federal prosecutors, here recounts the events leading up to and following his ouster. A former Navy JAG and self-professed Republican Party faithful, Iglesias was surprised, angered, and hurt when his party turned against him after he refused to bring indictments against high-profile Democrats in the run-up to the 2006 elections. This anger and hurt comes through in the book, and not to its advantage; the narrative is emotional but not moving, detailed but not compelling. In different hands, this story would likely shock the reader; what Iglesias shares is certainly distressing. Unfortunately, he offers no real additional details, suggestions, or insights into the accounts we already have from the press; instead, we get mostly Iglesias's personal feelings as he endured what must have been an extraordinarily trying time. An optional purchase for public libraries with strong or popular current affairs collections.

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