Dr. Activist Judge and Mr. Hyde

A lot of people (like Slate's Dahlia Lithwick) are wondering why Alberto Gonzales isn't providing this kind of advice before a judge ends up doing it for him. My Dad was Governor Gray Davis's legal affairs secretary for four years -- and I don't think he would say the line between providing legal counsel and the "advocacy approach" is really all that fine.

It seems to me that the phenomenon of activist legal counselors is the inverse of activist judges -- and yet another issue that the Democrats have failed to seize upon. (One wonders: what clerks are advising Thelton Henderson...?)