Their criticisms of Attorney General Edwin Meese have been aired in the past month, but this time the two top Justice Department officials had an elite audience: Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In the Oval Office last Wednesday, the two attorneys told the President that his friend of 20 years lacked the "moral authority" to remain the nation's top law-enforcement officer.
Outgoing Deputy Attorney General Arnold Burns said Meese's legal troubles had infected the Justice Department with a "malaise." That had worsened the day before, when three more of Burns' aides quit, bringing to five the number of high-ranking Justice officials...