IN NOMINATING Alberto Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general, President Bush noted that “this is the fifth time I have asked Judge Gonzales to serve his fellow citizens.” The other four? In order: general counsel for Gov. Bush, Texas secretary of state, Texas Supreme Court justice, and, since 2001, White House counsel.

Those are small-office jobs while that of attorney general obviously isn’t. The AG presides over the Department of Justice, which, with its six litigating divisions, is the world’s largest law firm, and also over its satellite law enforcement agencies, chief among them the FBI. The department has 110,000 employees and a budget of $25 billion, and while it has multiple responsibilities, its top priority since 9/11–and rightly so–has been fighting terrorism here at home.