Janet Reno, former attorney general of the United States – and the first woman to have served in that role in American history – died early Monday morning from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
Reno’s daughter, Gabrielle D’Alemberte, said to the Associated Press that her mother died in her home in Miami, Florida, in the company of friends and family, at the age of 78.
The AP has the details:
“Reno served longer in the job than anyone had in 150 years. And her tenure was marked by tragedy and controversy. But she left office widely respected for her independence and accomplishments.
“She was not President Bill Clinton’s first choice to head the Justice Department, nor his second. But after his number-one pick went down in confirmation flames, and his second choice also proved controversial, Clinton finally turned to Reno.
“She was an unexpected pick. She had no connections to Clinton or Washington. But Clinton wanted a woman, and Reno was a big-time prosecutor, holding the top prosecutor’s job in Miami-Dade county, a position she had been elected to four times over 15 years.
“Jamie Gorelick, who would later become deputy attorney general, was assigned to prep Reno for her confirmation hearing. ‘She was the least air brushed candidate we have ever had for a cabinet-level position,” says Gorelick. “She was herself and she didn’t change herself for Washington.'”
Shortly after Reno took office, she was thrown into the mix of the Branch Davidian compound stand-off by Waco, Texas. Reno ultimately gave the OK to raid the compound, which had already been stormed by federal agents. The raid left 76 dead, including more than two dozen children. Also killed was Davidian leader David Koresh, who ordered his followers to set the compound on fire as the agents stormed.
Reno, at a hearing to investigate the matter, said, AP reported: “What haunted me was that if I did not go in, I might be sitting there 10 days [later] … when [Koresh] came out with explosives, blew himself, some agents and the entire place up.”
But she said in an interview with NPR later that “we’ll never know whether it was a mistake or not” to storm the compound. And then she added: “But knowing what I do, I would not do it again. I would try to figure another way.”
Several federal agents were also killed during the Waco standoff. The incident is still talked about in some circles as an example of government run amok. Critics of Reno’s handling of the matter say federal agents had no legal right to storm the compound in the first place and that residents inside, fearful of the authorities, were simply exercising their constitutional rights to protect their families and properties.
That was hardly Reno’s only trip down controversy lane.
From the AP:
“Walter Dellinger, who served in two top Justice Department jobs under Reno … believes for instance, that it may have been the Waco experience that led Reno to go personally to Miami in April 2000 to see if there was a way to avoid a forcible removal of six- year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez from the home of a great-uncle so the boy could be returned to his only living parent, in Cuba.
“Elian had been rescued at sea after his mother and eight others drowned trying to get to the United States. Rescued by fisherman and brought to the U.S., he was soon turned over to his great uncle. The Cuban community in Miami was in an uproar over the idea of returning the boy to his father, who lived in Cuba, and the furor soon bled over to Congress. But when negotiations with the great uncle failed, armed federal agents, acting on Reno’s orders, raided the home, removed Elian, and turned him over to his father. When the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene, the two returned to their home in Cuba.
“Over the course of time, Reno would become embroiled in many controversies. She sought the appointment of a series of independent counsels to investigate four fellow cabinet members and President Clinton himself. But she refused to authorize an independent counsel investigation of contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign after Justice Department lawyers concluded no crime had been committed by either the President or Vice President.
“The decision so infuriated Republicans that some called for her impeachment. ‘This is the most politicized Justice Department in the history of the United States,’ railed Dan Burton, the Republican chairman of a key House oversight committee.”
