Editor’s note: The author of this column served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for five years and as a Strike Force Chief in the organized crime section of the DOJ for 10 years.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is in need of a serious internal review.  Recent critical remarks by members of Congress and other political leaders, and responses by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein indicate that the DOJ is under fire. It needs to regain its independence as the final decision-maker of criminal matters as was intended by the drafters of the U.S. Constitution. These critics do not regard the DOJ as the government entity the drafters of the Constitution intended it to be. They call for special counsel in almost all sensitive cases. They call for utilizing former prosecutors, now in private practice, as special counsel. There may be need for the advice of these former prosecutors, but not as special counsel. We must have a government of laws and not a government of men. We must bring the DOJ back to the position of trust it was intended to have.

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