Alberto R. Gonzales
From Conservapedia
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| Alberto Gonzales 80th Attorney General of the United States | |
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| Life | August 4, 1955 - |
| Term | February 3, 2005 - September 17, 2007 |
Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) was the 80th Attorney General of the United States, succeeding John Ashcroft. He is a graduate of Rice University, and a former member of Lovett College. Gonzales was one of the best students in his graduating class, considered one of the school's brightest and most intellectually rigorous students.
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Early Life
Alberto Gonzales was born in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Humble, near Houston. He was the second of eight children born to Pablo and Maria Gonzales. His father, who died in 1982, was a construction worker. An honors student at MacArthur High School, Gonzales enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1973, for a four year term of enlistment, serving two years at Fort Yukon, Alaska and two years as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. Prior to beginning his third year at the academy, which would have caused him to incur a further service obligation, he transferred to Rice University (Houston, Texas), where he was a member of Lovett College and earned a bachelor's degree in political science in 1979. He then earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1982. He and his wife, Rebecca Turner Gonzales, have three sons.
Legal Career
Gonzales was an attorney in private practice from 1982 until 1994 with the Houston law firm Vinson and Elkins, where he became a partner. In 1994, he was named general counsel to then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, rising to become Secretary of State of Texas in 1997 and finally to be named to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999, both appointments made by Governor Bush. During this time Gonzales was very involved in charities and community service. He was a board director of the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast from 1993 to 1994, and President of Leadership Houston during this same period. In 1994, Gonzales served as Chair of the Commission for District Decentralization of the Houston Independent School District, and as a member of the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions for Rice University. He was chosen as one of Five Outstanding Young Texans by the Texas Jaycees in 1994. He was a member of delegations sent by the American Council of Young Political Leaders to Mexico in 1996 and to the People's Republic of China in 1995. He received the Presidential Citation from the State Bar of Texas in 1997 for his dedication to addressing basic legal needs of the indigent. In 1999, he was named Latino Lawyer of the Year by the Hispanic National Bar Association. On November 10, 2004, it was announced that he would be nominated to replace United States Attorney General John Ashcroft for President Bush's second term. The nomination was approved with a 60-36 vote. He was sworn in on February 14, 2005.
Achievements
- Led Project Safe Neighborhoods to help eliminate violence in inner cities.[1]
- Was instrumental in passing the Military Commissions Act
Controversy
Alberto Gonzales was the center of a controversy over the firings of 8 United States attorneys. Detractors insisted that the attorneys were fired for political reasons, instead of performance-based reasons (a claim that no one in the White House has ever made, though some Justice Department officials initially made this claim in Congressional testimony).[2] Despite the fact that United States attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States, the liberally biased media insists on calling it a scandal. In fact, Alberto Gonzales "tempered the White House desire to replace U.S. Attorneys wholesale." [3]
Trivia
- Albert Gonzales was voted the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas in 1992.
- His Secret Service nickname is "Elephant", a reference to his uncanny ability to memorize obscure parts of United States law.
External links
- Alberto R. Gonzales The White House.
