Under our constitutional structure, there is no perfect cure for the mistake made by our founders in merging the two incompatible goals of the current Attorney General: that of political advisor to the president; and that of the independent chief prosecutor.
We are one of the few western democracies that mistakenly merged these roles into one. Our Attorney General is supposed to both advise the president politically... But at the same time, the Attorney General is supposed to be the head law enforcement officer of the United States – the chief prosecutor.
The system should be changed. The Justice Department should be broken up into two completely separate agencies, with two separate heads: the Minister of Justice would be a loyal political advisor to the president and a member of his cabinet, and the Director of Public Prosecution would be completely independent, and not a member of the cabinet. This separation will not be easy to achieve. But it may be possible, without a constitutional amendment, if Congress and the courts have the will to do it.
