This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, August 3rd, 2007.

I'm Caleb Brown.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under fire to be sure, but in seeking his dismissal

is Congress lobbying the best arguments against Gonzales.

Tim Lynch is the director of the Cato Institute's project on criminal justice.

He says criticisms of Gonzales have become too political.

He says Congress should instead be focused on the several obvious and egregious violations of the Constitution,

perpetrated by the Bush administration

advised and assisted by Alberto Gonzalez.

And the less he says there are plenty of good reasons for Alberto Gonzalez to go.

Why has Congress chosen this moment to try to seek some sort of punishment against Alberto Gonzalez given all of the things that he's been

involved in with the White House over the years, both as general counsel and as attorney general.

Members of Congress have been unhappy with Alberto Gonzalez for some time.

They have been criticizing him, but it seems with the firing of the U.S.

attorneys, they have kind of smelled some blood in the water, and so they are continuing

to pound him on that issue and also go after him on the eavesdropping case.

So they're coming at him from a variety of angles, but I think they're spending a little bit too much time

on the politics, some political matters involving who should be a U.S. attorney, why people were

discharged and so forth. We really have a whole litany of constitutional problems

with this administration. I think the Democrats are spending a little bit too much

time on the political aspects rather than some of the very serious

constitutional transgressions that Alberto Gonzalez has led this administration into.

...