A recent Atlantic Monthly article by Alan Berlow features a review of never-before-seen summaries and related documents used by then-Governor George Bush during his consideration of clemency appeals filed by death row inmates in Texas. The article notes that Bush’s legal counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales, often provided the Governor with case summaries and documents reflecting a “clear prosecutorial bias” and that Gonzales’s briefings failed to raise crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffectiveness of counsel, conflicts of interest, mitigating evidence, and evidence of innocence. The article also notes that Gonzales now serves as President Bush’s White House counsel, and many consider him a possible future Supreme Court nominee. Read the entire article.
(Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2003) See Clemency.