Our opinion: New York's attorney general takes a hard line with banks in the mortgage scandal. Why should a deal mean no more litigation?
They are fair questions, made all the more so by the ongoing revelations about the near collapse of the American economy three years ago. What's wrong with aggressively investigating the practices of the major banks? What's wrong with holding them accountable for their contributions to that crisis?
Nothing we can think of, certainly.
Yet here's New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, under fire from the unlikely quarters of a Democratic White House, for his continued opposition to a deal that would let banks off easy for their questionable practices. Mr. Schneiderman resists the terms of a proposed settlement, especially those that would make it harder to prosecute such discredited dealings as bundling loans in mortgage securities. On Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that he was removed from the executive committee of state attorneys general working on the settlement.
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To think that after all that, the Obama administration is leaning on Mr. Schneiderman and a few other holdouts to go along with a settlement that amounts to immunity from further accountability.
It's disingenuous, meanwhile, for the Justice Department to be arguing that its motivation to settle with the Wall Street banks is all about helping the homeowners who took out those bad loans. A deal that would prevent further legal action against the banks is a disservice to all the homeowners who could be the victims of the next mortgage debacle.
There's this possible motivation for the Obama administration, too: Wall Street banks wield great political influence, and are generous contributors to political campaigns. Perhaps the White House wants to win them over, or at least neutralize them in a presidential race that's already under way.
That's not Mr. Schneiderman's problem, however. He should continue to stand up to Wall Street. Immunity from litigation should be out of the question until we know what exactly it is we're forgiving.
Indeed. Don't fold now, Mr. Schneiderman.
