Though Kennedy had a reputation as a liberal politician and a champion of civil rights, the onetime attorney general was ruthless in his pursuit of the mafia, pushing for expanded powers for prosecutors. In recent weeks, Ashcroft has taken to invoking RFK to justify his own crackdown on terrorism. “The Justice Department of Robert F. Kennedy, it was said, would arrest a mobster for spitting on the sidewalk if it would help in the fight against organized crime,” Ashcroft said. The naming also comes on the heels of Ashcroft’s wartime reorganization of the Justice Department and Bush’s directive allowing terrorists to be tried before secret military tribunals.
Ironically, the RFK Justice Department will stand directly across the street from a building named after Kennedy’s nemesis at the FBI: J. Edgar Hoover. Some in Congress have pushed the FBI to rename its headquarters, but the agency has always refused to do so. Though the dueling names might suggest an epic battle between the two agencies, Ashcroft and new FBI director Robert Mueller have been collaborating closely in recent months, bringing new warmth to the traditionally chilly relationship.
