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-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

from the always-do-the-right-thing dept.

The Guardian reports [theguardian.com]

Donald Trump has fired the acting US attorney general after she told justice department lawyers not to defend his executive order banning entry for people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

The White House said on Monday that Sally Yates had "betrayed" the department by refusing to enforce a legal order that was "designed to protect the citizens of the United States".

Trump drafted in Dana Boente, US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, to replace Yates as acting attorney general. The president's official appointee, anti-immigration hardliner Senator Jeff Sessions, is yet to be confirmed by the Senate.

As the country's top law enforcement official, Yates, who was appointed by Barack Obama, had control over the justice department's immigration litigation office, which has handled the federal complaints filed against Trump's order [theguardian.com] since his new policy was announced on Friday.

"I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution's solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right", Yates wrote in a letter to justice department lawyers. "At present I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful."

The Center for American Progress notes [thinkprogress.org]

The last president to fire an attorney general was Richard Nixon, who fired his Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General in the "Saturday Night Massacre" when they refused to comply with his order to dismiss the Watergate Special Prosecutor.

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