Legal News

Mukasey: ?Not Every Wrong, Or . . . Every Violation of the Law, is a Crime?

By Ashby Jones

The newspapers’ front pages, dominated as they are today by news from Beijing and Tblisi, are giving us little on the law front for us to sink our teeth into.

Fortunately, this morning was AG Michael Muksasey’s turn to speak at the ABA’s annual meeting. And he delivered: Mukasey said today that neither Monica Goodling nor Kyle Sampson (nor anyone else, it seems), will face prosecution for considering improper political considerations in their hiring of judges and lawyers. (Click here and here for earlier posts on the topic.) “Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime,” he said. “In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws.” Click here for a story from the AP.

Still, Mukasey saved some pointed words for former DOJ officials caught up in the matter. “I have made repeatedly clear . . . that it is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees,” Mukasey said.

“There was a failure of supervision by senior officials in the department. And there was a failure on the part of some employees to cry foul when they were aware, or should have been aware, of problems,” Mukasey said.

Other intrusions of Bush administration politics into department hirings and firings remain under investigation. Mukasey said he is awaiting reports on the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the hiring practices in the department’s civil rights division.

An internal investigation concluded last month that for nearly two years, top advisers to Gonzales discriminated against applicants for career jobs who weren’t Republican or conservative loyalists.

Some comfort for those candidates who were excluded from positions because of their politics: Mukasey said today some could be invited to apply for new positions, Mukasey said. He also ruled out firing or reassigning those who were hired under the now-discarded evaluation process.

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” he said. “People who were hired in an improper way didn’t themselves do anything wrong.”

Photo: Getty Images

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 12, 2008 (boomark / email).