http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/wa****ngton/24cnd-justice.html?hp
Re****t Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Department
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By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: June 25, 2008
WA****NGTON -- Justice Department officials over the last six years
illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers
into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with
conservative credentials over those with liberal-sounding resumes, a
new re****t found Tuesday.
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Text of the Re****t (pdf)
Times Topics: U.S. Attorneys
The blistering re****t, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector
general, is the first in what will be a series of investigations
growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United
States attorneys. It appeared to confirm for the first time in an
official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged
that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the
Bush administration.
“Many qualified candidates” were rejected for the department’s honors
program because of what was perceived as a liberal bias, the re****t
found. Those practices, the re****t concluded, “constituted misconduct
and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that
prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological
affiliations.”
The ****ft began in 2002, when advisers to then-Attorney General John
Ashcroft restructured the honors program in response to what some
officials saw as a liberal tilt in recruiting young lawyers from elite
law schools like Harvard and Yale. While the recruitment was once
controlled largely by career officials in each section who would
review applications, political officials in the department began to
assume more control, rejecting candidates with liberal or Democratic
affiliations “at a significantly higher rate” than those with
Republican or conservative credentials, the re****t said.
The ****ft appeared to accelerate in 2006, under then-Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales, with two aides on the screening committee —
Michael Elston and Esther Slater McDonald — singled out for particular
criticism. The blocking of applicants with liberal credentials
appeared to be a particular problem in the Justice Department’s civil
rights division, which has seen an exodus of career employees in
recent years as the department has pursued a more conservative agenda
in deciding what types of cases to bring.
Applications that contained what were seen as “leftist commentary” or
“buzz words” like environmental and social justice were often grounds
for rejecting applicants, according to e-mails reviewed by the
inspector general’s office. Member****p in liberal organizations like
the American Constitution Society, Greenpeace, or the Poverty and Race
Research Action Council were also seen as negative marks.
Affiliation with the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative
group, was viewed positively.
Representative John Conyers Jr., the Michigan Democrat who heads the
House Judiciary Committee, saw the re****t as affirmation that the
Justice Department had crossed the line in “putting politics where it
doesn’t belong.”
“When it comes to the hiring of nonpartisan career attorneys,” Mr.
Conyers said, “our system of justice should not be corrupted by
partisan politics. It appears the politicization at Justice was so
pervasive that even interns had to pass a partisan litmus test. ‘’
The inspector general is still investigating other issues related to
alleged politicization of the Justice Department, including the
central question of why nine United States attorneys were fired in
late 2006. Those findings have not been made public.3
"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that
said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care.
It's not that im****tant. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
For the best in liberal/leftist commentary, visit
www.zeppscommentaries.com
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