One ironic bit about the Chertoff nomination is that it comes so close to the Gonzales nomination. People forget now — and refused to admit then — that John Ashcroft’s Justice Department wasn’t too keen on the military tribunals stuff. Ashcroft, of course, got blamed for the policies even though they were crafted by Gonzales and the Defense Department. It was Chertoff who wanted to prosecute high-ranking terrorists in Federal court. I think he was probably wrong on the merits, but he gets a free-pass from me because everyone I’ve ever talked to about this says his policy preference stemmed in no small part because Chertoff’s just a fighter and he didn’t want to take a pass at getting his whack at the bad guys. He believed he could punish the terrorists on his turf. He might have been right. But even if he’s wrong, you have to admire the fighting spirit.