Black elected leaders, lawyers and educators spoke out forcefully Monday after Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation, following months of criticism by Democrats and Republicans over his integrity and competence as the top official at the U.S. Justice Department.

"The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is long overdue," U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said in a statement. "His tumultuous tenure was marked by an unprecedented disregard for our nation’s civil rights laws and fundamental civil liberties that serve as essential safeguards for the American public."

"As a young civil rights leader in South Carolina in the 1960s, I had many run-ins and dealings with the U.S. Department of Justice, but never in my lifetime have I witnessed a Justice Department more tarnished by misstatements, falsehoods and disingenuous sentiments than Gonzales’ Justice Department," Clyburn said.

Black activists and political observers have said for months that Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, was never interested in aggressively enforcing civil rights laws to protect blacks and people of color.

"With the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, we begin the process of restoring credibility to the U.S. Department of Justice," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a statement.

"The tenure of Attorney General Gonzales has been one mired with controversy, ranging from the inhumane treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay to illegal wiretapping to accusations of politicized firings of federal prosecutors," Cummings said.

"I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did," Craig Kirby, a Democratic political strategist, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Monday.

Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation last Friday.

"It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice," Gonzales said, announcing his resignation effective Sept. 17 in a terse statement. He took no questions and gave no reason for stepping down.

One matter still under investigation is the 2006 dismissal of several federal prosecutors. Lawmakers said the action appeared to be politically motivated, and some of the fired U.S. attorneys said they felt pressured to investigate Democrats before elections.

In April, Gonzales answered "I don't know" and "I can't recall" scores of times while questioned by Congress about the firings. Even some Republicans said his testimony was evasive.

Not President Bush. He praised Gonzales' performance and said the attorney general was "honest" and "honorable."

Gonzales, 52, called Bush on Friday to inform him of his resignation, according to a senior administration official. The president had Gonzales come to lunch at his ranch on Sunday as a parting gesture.

Monday, Bush said he reluctantly accepted Gonzales' resignation, a man, he said, whose "good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons."

After months of standing by his top prosecutor and "close friend," Bush spoke briefly in Texas to praise Gonzales, saying the attorney general endured "unfair treatment that has created harmful distraction at the Justice Department."

Bush said it's "sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person" is impeded "from doing important work."

But black lawmakers said Monday that Gonzales had lost all credibility, and it was time for him to resign.

The question of who the president would name as his nominee to follow Gonzales as head of the Justice Department is now the talk among political pundits and in Beltway circles.

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, said Bush needs a nominee who will guarantee a smooth nomination process and noted that one person on the short list to replace Gonzales is Pepsi Co. General Counsel Larry Thompson, who is black.

"The resignation -- translated: firing -- of Alberto Gonzales was not a surprise, despite the headlining. It was merely a matter of when it would happen," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "The political timing of this is rather suspect; the Senate will be stretched between Attorney General confirmation hearings and testimony on the progress of the Iraq surge. At this stage, the real question surrounds Gonzales' replacement and the direction of the Justice Department: Where do we go from here?"

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Gonzales manipulated the system for a political agenda.

"It is a sad day when the Attorney General of the United States resigns amid a cloud of suspicion that the system of justice has been manipulated for political purposes," Conyers said in a statement.

"More than accountability, we need answers," Conyers said. "Unfortunately, the continued stonewalling of the White House in the U.S. Attorney scandal has deprived the American people of the truth. If the power of the prosecutor has been misused in the name of partisanship, we deserve a full airing of the facts."

Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found, said administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was among those mentioned as possible successors, though a senior administration official said the matter had not been raised with Chertoff. Bush leaves Washington next Monday for Australia, and Gonzales' replacement might not be named by then, the official said.

"Chertoff as the new pick seems obvious, given Chertoff's impressive legal credentials," said Groff. "But the president needs a pick that will be less politicized -- Utah Republican Senator and ranking Senate Judiciary Committee Member Orrin Hatch comes to mind as that balanced choice."

Groff said from a White House perspective, Hatch would be much harder for Senate Democrats to demagogue since he's a longstanding member and colleague.

"Basically, they already know him," Groff said. "Chertoff, albeit large in name recognition, could get mired in a protracted confirmation process since Senators would have to get acquainted, and he'd have to assuage bitterness surrounding an array of issues, from immigration to port security."

"Yes, it's interesting that a noted African-American like Pepsi Co. General Counsel Larry Thompson keeps popping up as a consideration for top legal posts such as attorney general and Supreme Court justice," he added. "But, right now, President Bush will need a high profile name for a high profile win. He's already got quite a bit of heat on him; the Iraq report is around the corner, and Democrats are smelling blood in the wake of the Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales departures."

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, (D-MI), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Gonzales routinely ignored Congress.

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been virtually unresponsive to U.S. House congressional committees that are constitutionally mandated to oversee the Justice Department," Kilpatrick said in a statement.

"We are grateful that Attorney General Gonzales has decided to resign from his post," she added. "It is our hope that President Bush will nominate an attorney general who will uphold the laws of our nation and the Constitution."

Republicans welcomed the departure of the embattled attorney general, some quietly and others publicly so.

"The attorney general's decision to step down is a positive step forward for the Department of Justice," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

"Attorney General Gonzales' ability to lead the Department of Justice had been undermined by his serious errors in judgment and conflicting statements," she said in a statement.

Gonzales, formerly Bush's White House counsel, served more than two years at the Justice Department In announcing his decision, Gonzales reflected on his up-from-the-bootstraps life story; he's the son of migrant farm workers from Mexico who didn't finish elementary school.

"Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days," Gonzales said.

As attorney general and earlier as White House counsel, Gonzales pushed for expanded presidential powers, including the eavesdropping authority. He drafted controversial rules for military war tribunals and sought to limit the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- prompting lawsuits by civil libertarians who said the government was violating the Constitution in its pursuit of terrorists. 

In 2004, Gonzales pressed to reauthorize a secret domestic spying program over the Justice Department's protests. Gonzales was White House counsel at the time and during a dramatic hospital confrontation he and then-White House chief of staff Andrew Card sought approval from then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was in intensive care recovering from surgery. Ashcroft refused.

Similarly, Gonzales found himself on the defensive in early March for the FBI's improper and, in some cases, illegal prying into Americans' personal information during terror and spy probes.

Gonzales, whom Bush once considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, is the fourth top-ranking administration official to leave since November 2006.

Donald H. Rumsfeld, an architect of the Iraq war, resigned as defense secretary one day after the November elections.

Paul Wolfowitz agreed in May to step down as president of the World Bank after an ethics inquiry.

Bush's top political and policy adviser, Karl Rove, announced earlier this month that he was stepping down.

Reacting to Gonzales' resignation,Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that the Justice Department had "suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence."