Saturday
Night Massacre – REPLAYED
White House JAN.
30, 2017, 8:23 P.M.
Why people are calling the acting attorney general's firing the
'Monday Night Massacre'
On
Monday evening, the White House released a statement saying acting Atty. Gen.
Sally Yates had been fired for instructing Justice Department lawyers
not to defend President Trump's travel ban.
Yates has "betrayed the Department of
Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens
of the United States," the White House
said .
"Monday Night Massacre" was trending on Twitter within
the hour.
The
front page of the Los Angeles Times the morning after the "Saturday Night
Massacre." (Los Angeles Times archives)
In
1973, President Nixon ordered the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox
because he wouldn't obey Nixon's order to stop looking into Watergate.
Two of
the Justice Department's top leaders resigned in protest rather than following
Nixon's directive to fire Cox. It became known as the "Saturday Night
Massacre," an instance of the president using his power to punish
political enemies within the Justice Department.
Though the Justice Department is part of the executive branch,
it is traditionally largely
independent from the office of the president in order to ensure the
integrity of law enforcement and its investigations.
Attempts
to impose Executive rule, like in Russia, are so far failing.
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