Alberto Gonzales Is The American Bar Association's "Lawyer Of The Year"

December 13, 2007 9:39 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) -- Alberto Gonzales was named Lawyer of the Year by the American Bar Association (ABA) on Thursday, precisely because of the former U.S. Attorney General's disgraceful exit in August after allegations of perjury in connection with a congressional probe on the firings of nine federal prosecutors last year.

"We selected the Lawyer of the Year based on who was the most newsworthy lawyer," ABA Journal editor Edward Adams told AFP. "Clearly he was influential, there can be no doubt about that."

Gonzales, who was involved in the Bush administration's controversial wiretapping program as well as efforts to justify U.S. actions to win the war on terror, was part of "what now appears to have been a stealth campaign to reinstate pre-Watergate presidential authority," said the ABA Journal.

"His determination to do so is epitomized in a now-infamous hospital-room meeting with an incapacitated John Ashcroft (who preceded Gonzales as attorney general) in an unsuccessful effort to gain approval for a secret wiretapping program. The highlight: Ashcroft's wife sticking her tongue out at Gonzales and his entourage as they retreated from Ashcroft's bedside," the journal added, referring to Gonzales' futile visit to an incapacitated Ashcroft because the acting Attorney General at that time, former deputy attorney general James B. Comey, had refused to re-authorize the program.

Runners-up to the top prize included former Cheney Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Patrick Fitzgerald, who successfully prosecuted Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice, and Howard Stern, attorney and lover of the late Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith.

The ABA also named current Attorney General Michael Mukasey as its Lawyer of the Year for 2008.

Gozales was appointed by President George Bush in February 2005 as the first Hispanic to serve as Attorney General.