As rumors spread through Capitol Hill this week that embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could soon step down, Democrats maintain that Gonzales is at the center of a growing scandal involving the Bush administration’s efforts to prosecute false voter fraud cases.

Gonzales and the Justice Department are under investigation by Congress in last year's firing of eight federal prosecutors. And this week, as Democrats in the Senate plan to vote a "no-confidence" on Gonzales, some Republicans have also urged Gonzales to resign.

Democrats also maintain that the ongoing investigation of Gonzales impacts black Americans because the inquiry focuses on tactics designed to suppress the black vote.

Craig Kirby, a Democratic political consultant, said there are too many questions about Gonzales' leadership and not enough answers.

As the lead law enforcement officer for the United States, Kirby said, Gonzales should be overseeing investigations instead of becoming the subject of one. 

"He should resign," Kirby told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

But on Monday, President George W. Bush continued his support for Gonzales, saying Gonzales has done nothing wrong and denounced Democratic plans for a no-confidence vote as "pure political theater."

"I stand by Al Gonzales, and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues," Bush said. "And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage."

According to an article in The Washington Post, which was circulated by Democrats, a federal prosecutor from Missouri who argued with the White House over his failure to prosecute unwarranted charges of voter fraud was temporarily replaced by a Justice Department attorney who aggressively worked to criminalize activists for voter registration efforts.

The Democratic National Committee said the Missouri prosecutor was the fourth known case of the Bush administration attempting to use the Justice Department in a partisan effort to prosecute false voter fraud cases.

"The Bush administration’s unrelenting focus on overhyping voter fraud, prosecuting legitimate voter registration efforts and politicizing of the Justice Department continues to become clearer," Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Committee, said in a statement.

"The continued trickling of news about the administration’s unprecedented efforts to pressure U.S. attorneys to prosecute phony voter fraud cases is unacceptable," Brazile said. "The American people deserve a Justice Department free from partisan taint that protects voters from harassment and intimidation when they head to the polls."

After taking the Fifth Amendment to avoid detailing her role in the Justice Department's ouster of eight U.S. attorneys, former White House liaison Monica Goodling is set to testify Wednesday about the firings that have resulted in lawmakers' demands for Gonzales' resignation.

Her appearance before the House Judiciary Committee is part of Congress' investigation into whether last year's firings were politically motivated.

Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California said they will seek a vote on a nonbinding resolution as early as this week to express what senators of both parties have maintained for weeks: Gonzales has become too weakened to run the department.

"After the tragic miscarriages of democracy and justice in Florida, Ohio and other states in 2000, 2004 and 2006, the Bush administration and assorted Republicans should be the last to condemn others on voter fraud," Peter C. Groff, a Colorado state senator, publisher of Blackpolicy.org and executive director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"It is political hutzpah of the highest order. If this were a situation comedy, it would win an Emmy," Groff said. "If lack of performance with respect to key voter fraud cases is one of the reasons attorneys were fired, then Democrats should turn up the heat since Republicans have redefined voter fraud as we know it. The big question remains: How much did Gonzales know and when did he know it?"

According to several media reports, including Fox News, one federal prosecutor who was involved in the firings of the federal attorneys was a black lawyer, Michael Battle.

The Associated Press reported that Battle, a former U.S. attorney, has resigned from the Justice Department, and other media reports said Battle made the calls to fire six federal prosecutors in December 2006. The Washington Post reported that "Battle was apologetic, but offered little in the way of explanations during the calls, telling some that the order had come from 'on high.'"

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he believed a "sizable number" of GOP lawmakers would join Democrats in expressing their lack of confidence in the attorney general.

Five Republicans have urged Gonzales to resign over his firing of federal prosecutors, while several other Republicans have expressed criticism of his actions.

"Votes of no confidence are very rare," Specter said. "Historically, that is something which Attorney General Gonzales would like to avoid. I think that if and when he sees that coming, he would prefer to avoid that kind of a historical black mark."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said this week that Gonzales would not be affected by a potential vote of no confidence. "As for no-confidence votes, maybe senators need a refresher course on American civics," Fratto said while with Bush at his Texas ranch. "I think you find no-confidence votes in parliamentary systems, not the American system of government."

Specter long has made it clear he believed the Justice Department no longer functioned well because of Gonzales' handling of the prosecutor firings and that as a result Gonzales would step down.

But Specter's comments Sunday raised the pressure on Gonzales and Bush, who has indicated Gonzales would not be leaving anytime soon.

Groff said Gonzales has blurred the lines between protecting the civil rights for Americans, and serving in the interests of Bush.

"The reason Alberto Gonzales has defied all conventional wisdom and political odds by continuing his reign at the Justice Department is because he happily serves as an effective shield for the Administration," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"Hence, it is reasonable to anticipate that Gonzales will be there for some time as the White House continues directing him to stonewall Congressional inquiries," he said.

"The administration has been dismantling and reconfiguring the Department of Justice for sometime now, with little oversight and consequence," Groff added. "Little was said about the wholesale destruction of the DOJ's civil rights division over the past six years until these attorneys were fired."

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Gonzales was concentrating on doing his job. "As we work to ensure Congress has all the information it needs on this matter, the attorney general remains focused on the important work that the American people expect him to do," Roehrkasse said Sunday.

A no-confidence vote, though symbolic, probably would create trouble for Gonzales. Any attorney general needs to work with Congress on legislation, as well as nominees who require Senate confirmation. Gonzales would need to confirm a new deputy attorney general because his current one, Paul McNulty, is leaving over the firings of federal prosecutors.