Department of Justice - Making it an Independent Agency - Discuss

[cubby]

How would the United States go about transforming the Department of Justice from the current political horror that it is now, to an independent agency?

My first thought would be to set it up like any other federal agency. [Blank] number of commissioners and the-.... Shit, nope, that wouldn't work.

How about having the SCOTUS involved. They pick the AG by a majority vote. I know normally the judges don't pick the prosecutors (to those not familiar with the US Dept of Justice, the lawyers are essentially the governments prosecutors.

Not sure that would work - with SCOTUS. Especially with the U.S. Attorney's coming into play as well. Those are typically political appointees and huge career stepping stones.

Ok, ideas?

[Mayhem]

Uhm, you'd need to stop lobbying first to make this actually work. Else the justice department would be bound by money and not by political alignment.

[Elegiac]

I think there's significant value to be had in creating a position of Public Advocate or Ombudsman at the federal level. Taken from Wikipedia for those who aren't familiar with the gist of it;

An ombudsman (/ˈɒmbʊdzmən/, also US: /-bədz-, -bʌdz-/,[1][2][3] Swedish: [²ɔmːbʉːdsˌman]), ombudsperson, ombud, or public advocate is an official who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints of mal-administration or a violation of rights. The ombudsman is usually appointed by the government or by parliament but with a significant degree of independence. In some countries, an inspector general, citizen advocate or other official may have duties similar to those of a national ombudsman and may also be appointed by a legislature. Below the national level, an ombudsman may be appointed by a state, local, or municipal government. Unofficial ombudsmen may be appointed by, or even work for, a corporation such as a utility supplier, newspaper, NGO, or professional regulatory body.

The typical duties of an ombudsman are to investigate complaints and attempt to resolve them, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. Ombudsmen sometimes also aim to identify systemic issues leading to poor service or breaches of people's rights. At the national level, most ombudsmen have a wide mandate to deal with the entire public sector, and sometimes also elements of the private sector (for example, contracted service providers). In some cases, there is a more restricted mandate, for example with particular sectors of society. More recent developments have included the creation of specialized Children's Ombudsman and Information Commissioner agencies.

The idea is that the office exists separately from both executive and legislature with the specific purpose of handling complaints of corruption or abuse of power against people in the government.

[Milchshake]

How would the United States go about transforming the Department of Justice from the current political horror that it is now, to an independent agency?

My first thought would be to set it up like any other federal agency. [Blank] number of commissioners and the-.... Shit, nope, that wouldn't work.

How about having the SCOTUS involved. They pick the AG by a majority vote. I know normally the judges don't pick the prosecutors (to those not familiar with the US Dept of Justice, the lawyers are essentially the governments prosecutors.

Not sure that would work - with SCOTUS. Especially with the U.S. Attorney's coming into play as well. Those are typically political appointees and huge career stepping stones.

Ok, ideas?

Easy, defeat and ban the party that has no interest in democracy or governance.

Stop pretending both sides are acting in good faith.

Otherwise there's no real solution.
SCOTUS selecting an AG .. see above.
Direct election of an AG. Well that's just politics.
Long term appointment of an AG, like the Federal Reserve or FBI? Still partisan, see Alan Greenspan or James Comey.

Really, the populace just needs to be honest about the asymmetrical nature of this age of fuckery we're in.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

It's already to polluted to be fixed politiclly. Its a massive onion with dozens of layers loyal to whichever party they were appointed by. The best solution is short term limits. Supreme Court being a life time appointment is insane. Break the country up into zones and vote them in every four years. Have these people appoint the staff to the DoJ. Make any money exchange into this department punishable by death. Then maybe we will have a slightly uncorrupted system.