NCJ Number
140234
Date Published
1991
Length
279 pages
Annotation
The author, who served as Attorney General during Ronald Reagan's first term, provides an inside view of the U.S. Justice Department's goals, achievements, and problems during this period.
Abstract
This book recounts the Reagan administration's efforts to reduce violent crime and address the Nation's drug problem. He notes that although the justice system faced budget cuts, it was expected to reform the laws on illegal immigration, enforce civil rights laws while eliminating the remedies of quotas and busing, modernize antitrust policies, and convince policymakers and the public that "bigness is not necessarily badness." The reduction of political activism in the Federal courts and the protection of the prerogatives of presidential power were also goals of the Reagan administration. Chapters focus on the beginning of the revolution promised in Ronald Reagan's conservative agenda, efforts to forge an antitrust policy that did not view bigness as necessarily bad, and the selection of Sandra Day O'Conner as U.S. Supreme Court Justice and efforts to mitigate judicial activism. Also discussed are some interagency conflicts within the executive branch, the civil rights agenda of the Justice Department, efforts to protect executive privilege, media relations, and flaws in the system of the independent counsel. The Justice Department's fight against drugs, organized crime, and terrorism is also profiled. Other chapters focus on Justice Department's relationship with the Congress and the reform of immigration and the criminal code. William French Smith's decision to resign at the end of Ronald Reagan's first term is discussed in the concluding chapter. Subject index