One of the unsavory episodes in the unlamented years of the Bush administration was the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. U.S. attorneys serve at the will of the president, but everything about this purge looked political to the point of being inappropriate.

Last week the final chapter in this case was closed -- and that initial impression was sustained, although the inappropriateness was not deemed to rise to the level of criminal behavior.

For two years, a special prosecutor, Nora Dannehy of Connecticut, focused on one of the more egregious cases, the dismissal of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias in New Mexico. He was fired after then Republican Sen. Pete Domenici called the administration in hopes of removing Mr. Iglesias, whom he thought was lagging in prosecuting voter fraud involving Democrats.

In closing the investigation, Ms. Dannehy found that the evidence did not demonstrate any prosecutable criminal offense. Nor did she recommend expanding the scope of the investigation to other cases. A lawyer for former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took this as vindication.

But that's hard to square with implicit, unflattering references to the role of the hapless Mr. Gonzales, who later gave clueless testimony to Congress that was a factor in his ultimate resignation. On his watch the Justice Department fired Mr. Iglesias without bothering to find out whether what was said about him was true. According to a Justice Department summary, that showed "an undue sensitivity to politics on the part of DOJ officials who should answer not to partisan politics but to principles of fairness and justice."

Mr. Gonzales and other officials also made misleading statements to Congress, but again the prosecutor said this did not rise to the level of a crime.

This was the second look at this affair -- the first came two years ago in a report done by the Justice Department -- and it's hard to argue with what seems to have been a thorough and independent investigation.

The results have to be taken as a whole. No crime? Check. Inappropriate political behavior that was contrary to Department of Justice principles? Check. The court of public opinion is likely to render a harsher verdict on the second finding.

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