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Politicizing the Department of Justice

By TChris

Bump and Update (TL): The full report is here.(pdf)

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The Justice Department finally gets around to confirming old news:

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 report found Tuesday.

Remember Monica "I didn't mean to" Goodling?

It's particularly troubling that the Civil Rights Division was filled with lawyers who don't much care about civil rights. [more ...]

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.

Yeah, we sure wouldn't want anyone who cares about social justice working in the Justice Department. Instead:

Affiliation with the Federalist Society, a prominent conservative group, was viewed positively.

Affiliation with its progressive counterpart, the American Constitution Society, was seen as a "negative mark."

John Conyers:

"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."

Wouldn't want a liberal fetching coffee for the big shots at Justice, after all.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).