And He's the Best of the Bunch

Is it any wonder that we are the butt of so many lawyer jokes? Only an association of attorneys would celebrate the worst as the Best of the Bunch.

As Paul Kiel of TPM put it:

Yep, that's right. The American Bar Association Journal has named Alberto Gonzales Lawyer of the Year. Wait a minute, you say, isn't that like naming Alec Baldwin Father of the Year?

See LAWYER OF THE YEAR.

As though the Lawyer of the Year is a reverse popularity contest, which should be based upon infamy and notoriety rather than skill or acumen, the American Bar Association "awards"its Lawyer of the Year to Alberto, Lawyers of the Year 2007 & 2008:

The top legal story of 2007 was unquestionably the unraveling of support for the Bush administration’s expansive view of presidential power during wartime, and with it, the slow-motion destruction of Alberto Gonzales’ reign as U.S. attorney general. Add to that the controversy over whether the administration fired eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons, and no single lawyer made more news in 2007 than Gonzales.

* * * *

The most talked-about attorney this past year by a mile, Gonzales, 52, rose from being the grandson of illegal immigrants to the first Hispan�ic attorney general of the United States. George W. Bush appeared to be grooming the man he affectionately calls “Fredo” for the U.S. Supreme Court. But after Gonzales appeared veracity-challenged when testifying before the Senate Judiciary Com�mittee, he resigned in August.

Gonzales went from “Latino Lawyer of the Year” in 1999 to become the subject of several investigations involving use of the Justice Department as a political tool.

Before becoming attorney general, Gonzales authored—or at least authorized as White House general counsel—a memo describing the Geneva Conventions as “quaint” and presided, at least nominally (see David Addington), over what now appears to have been a stealth campaign to reinstate pre-Watergate presidential authority.

His determination to do so is epitomized in a now-infamous hospital-room meeting with an incapacitated John Ashcroft in an unsuccessful effort to gain approval for a secret wiretapping program. The highlight: Ashcroft’s wife sticking her tongue out at Gonzales and his entourage as they retreated from Ashcroft’s bedside."

He's definitely someone for the profession to be proud of. For some Gonzo memories, see Jon Stewart's farewell:



And then there's SNL's Weekend edition on Gonzales, "Really." See He's Gone, Gone, Gone.

UPDATE (12/15): And who says you can't shame a lawyer?

Via TPM:

First Alberto Gonzales was forced to resign in disgrace. Now they've stripped his Lawyer of the Year crown from him. What next?

Earlier this week, the American Bar Association Journal, to universal derision, named Gonzales Lawyer of the Year.

After the outcry over naming Gonzales "Lawyer of the Year," the ABA backtracked and changed its award to "Newsmaker of the Year."

Tags: Jon Stewart, Law, Alberto Gonzales, Politics, Video