Department of Justice takes a dive.

The DOJ needs to prosecute the law. But people in the DOJ don't necessary like all the laws that they are charged with enforcing. So, we get this:

West said Monday that DOJ was discharging its responsibility to the tradition of the Justice Department while making adjustments to the arguments in line with the administration's views.

"I think that the best example -- let me give you one -- in the Defense of Marriage Act -- you'll notice that we have not only discharged our responsibility to defend the constitutionality of a congressional statute, but we've done so in a way which reflects the policy values of this administration," West said.

"We disavowed some arguments that we believed had no basis in fact, and in fact we presented the court through our briefs with information which seemed to undermine some of the previous rationales that have been used defense of that statute," West added.

"We believe that's being an honest broker with the court, and that's the way we'll continue to discharge our responsibility," West said.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's talking about taking a dive. You know. Act like you are just boxing your heart out but making sure that all your best punches fall a little short, or land on the shoulder instead of the chin. And when the other guy finally gets one good punch in, well, lay down and take a little nap.

Wonder if there might be some sort of ethical rule about this sort of thing, like, oh, I don't know, maybe zealous representation.

On the other hand, this might be brilliant. I can just see the next administration saying to itself, "The corporate income tax sucks. Let's prosecute those corporate tax cheats, but not win, because we'll never get Congress to repeal the tax." Or better yet - selectively rolling over and playing dead. Tax the bejeezus out of Google, but lose the case against Halliburton.