That's not the argument here. The argument is that there may be some other specific point to apply activism towards. She is the head of her office but this is clearly not the most important case at the top of her caseload. It could've been a subordinate who made the calls and had the delegated authority.
Technically, President Obama has the power to install and remove U.S. attorneys at his discretion. Should we start a petition asking him to resign, too?
I'm the author of the petition, so allow me to explain my thinking; and why I don't expect Ms. Ortiz to lose her job over this.
1. Obama appointed her, and by many metrics she is doing a good job.
2. The DOJ under Holder is anything but Liberal in it's outlook, a DOJ that's onboard with killing civilians who are American citizens without requiring even a closed hearing from a judge does not care what you think about prosecutorial overreach.
3. Using outsize threats and the power of indictment to coerce defendants into pleading out is policy, and goes well beyond an individual D.A.'s practices in a given case.
That said; the purpose of this petition is to raise embarrassing questions in a way that demands an answer.
Justice in this country should aspire to be more than "the shadow cast by the powerful upon the weak".
note: I'm aware that I should have had someone else proofread the text and that my misedit of the first paragraph is now unfixable.
