In the last few weeks, many opinions have come up both for and against the latest nominees to the Bush cabinet.

Groups have established Web sites to support these possible secretaries or to try and stop them from being confirmed.

Through it all, there has been one constant. Every single one of these people has been doing his or her duty as an American citizen.

They have been exercising their explicitly given rights to free speech and to freely petition the American government.

Unfortunately, there has been one problem with this.President-elect Bush has repeatedly asked that the rhetoric be toned down for his nominees. Are they to be held to a lower standard than others?

Are we supposed to just accept them and not question them before they are confirmed?

We have a duty to thoroughly examine each of these candidates and make sure that they will perform their duties in a way that will be acceptable to the American people. Asking whether they will be able to uphold the laws they would be sworn to protect is a question that deserves to be answered.

President-elect Bush should stop asking that his nominees get special treatment and that no one ask these questions publicly or try and find out information about them.

He needs to realize that every critic of his is exercising their constitutionally mandated civil rights and that every critic, as well as every supporter, is doing his or her duty as an American citizen by holding their government accountable.