White House legal advisers - and their advice to the US president - are becoming increasingly politicised, a group of former US attorneys-general told the Atlanta conference.

Edwin Meese, who was attorney-general for three years in the Reagan administration, said the expansion of the role of White House counsel - an office that acts effectively as the president's personal legal adviser &150; was a cause for concern and 'a serious problem'.


Mr Meese said there is a public perception of bias and an increasing chance of conflict between the White House counsel's office and that of the attorney-general.


Benjamin Civiletti, attorney-general for two years at the end of the Carter administration, agreed. He said the public expected the attorney-general to execute the law 'impartially and independently'. In contrast, role of White Housel counsel was seen as dealing with political issues.


Noting the increase in the number of lawyers at the White House, Griffin Bell, who also served as attorney-general under President Carter, said: 'What's happened in the White House is what has happened recently in corporate America &150; everyone wants their own lawyer.'


Their comments come against a backdrop of what many US commentators view as an increasing politicisation of the role of attorney-general itself. The current attorney-general, John Ashcroft, is viewed by many opponents to the Bush administration as being an arch-conservative who has been instrumental in implementing Draconian anti-terrorism legislation following the 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.


Indeed, Mr Meese told delegates that there was an 'increasing rivalry' between the post-2001 created Department of Homeland Security and the attorney-general's Department of Justice.