One was the son and grandson of rabbis, a legal scholar whose life revolved around the University of Chicago. Together, they created the modern Department of Justice and, more important, the modern American idea of the rule of law. They were the first two attorneys general appointed after Watergate — Levi by Gerald Ford and Bell by his fellow Georgian Jimmy Carter. And they both set out to refashion the Justice Department into the least political, most independent part of the executive branch. So Levi and Bell made sure that the crisis of Watergate didn’t go to waste.

Source: New York Times April 29, 2018 23:55 UTC