It is quite likely that Alberto Gonzalez, the Bush administration's Attorney General, may soon find himself out of a job.

This would happen not because of the role he has played in large-scale violations of constitutional principles ? for instance, abetting the president's use of ?signing statements? to nullify laws, or the use of warrantless surveillance programs, or the institutionalization of torture, or the abolition of the habeas corpus guarantee.

Rather than being evicted from office for those abuses, Gonzalez may be forced out for pressuring federal prosecutors to target Democratic officials for corruption probes just prior to last fall's elections. Eight US attorneys who resisted that effort were fired last December.

There's abundant political corruption on both sides of the aisle. But under Gonzalez, roughly three-quarters of these cases have been filed against Democrats, which seems a little disproportionate.

What is really revealing, however, is how Gonzalez could undermine the Bill of Rights for years, but find his job imperiled for targeting other members of the political class.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.