EDITORIAL:

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Enough already.

The Huntington Beach congressman’s intense efforts to revive the case involving two Border Patrol agents who were jailed for wounding a Mexican drug smuggler in a shooting is a matter of record.

Rohrabacher believes the Border Patrol agents deserve another shot at justice.

Rohrabacher on Tuesday announced he and 45 other members of Congress are sending a letter to retired Judge Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s attorney general nominee, asking him to conduct “a fair and unbiased review” of how the prosecution was handled.

In a phone interview, Rohrabacher said if Mukasey won’t look at the case, he’s not fit to be attorney general.

“Most people think there were violations of the rules by the prosecutors, like keeping information from the jury, which would reverse the decision of the court,” Rohrabacher said. “This whole thing was brought on by having an attorney general who was too close to the president. This new attorney general who is supposedly independent of the president should take an independent look.”

Maybe the agents do deserve another shot.

There are more than a few who argue that the government did not prove its case.

But Rohrabacher’s latest move — connecting the case to the confirmation process for the attorney general — is going too far and smacks of political posturing.

Rohrabacher can fight his fight, with whatever vim and vigor is within him (a goodly amount, by all indications), without further politicizing the confirmation process.

His stipulation that any attorney general should agree to resurrect the case is not in the best interest of justice. Which is to say, shame on him and the other 45 representatives engaging in these bullying tactics.

Their strategy begs the question: Shouldn’t the nation’s top law enforcement official enter office without prejudice or predisposition? Free from the talons of this or that political predator?

Perhaps the case should be revived. But doing so shouldn’t be a requirement for becoming attorney general.