When the attorney general does Congress's job for it
First Attorney General Eric Holder announces plans to make aggressive use of what’s left of the Voting Rights Act in order to make up for what the Supreme Court took away. Now he’s instructing prosecutors to leave out key details when bringing cases against nonviolent drug offenders, in order to keep mandatory minimum laws from kicking in.
Is the AG a politically nimble crusader, overstepping the bounds of his office to pursue his version of justice?
Not exactly. These are just more examples of how the government works now: since Congress isn’t really functioning as a legislative body anymore, the executive branch is getting things done on its own. Wonkbook explained this recently in a different context:
