I'm ambivalent about him. He argued against aspects of the imperial presidency and the inevitable abuses that were implicit in the patriot act. On the other hand he has favored the idiotic war on drugs. And his involvement with the rich pardon is bad. As a matter of theory he has said the attorney general serves the people first and the president second which seems to indicate no more using DOJ as the slimiest sort of partisan political tool. But what is that kind of statement worth in light of the rich pardon? By some accounts he participated in getting the pardon aproved - by other accounts he merely failed to stop it. It definitely leaves his character and his willingness to stand up for his "prinicples" in question.

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The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
Justice Louis D Brandeis