Constitutional Law

New Report Indicates More Impropriety at the Ashcroft and Gonzales Justice Department

The Inspector General’s Office today released a new report on politicized hiring by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, one of a series it has issued on actions by the Ashcroft and Gonzalez-led Justice Department.

Much of today’s report concerns the conduct of former senior Civil Rights Division official Bradley Schlozman.  According to news reports, the Inspector General’s findings contain ample evidence that Schlozman both violated the Civil Service Reform Act, which prohibits discrimination against applicants for federal career positions based on political affiliation, and lied under oath.  In excerpts of conversations contained in the report, Schlozman explicitly expressed his intention to hire ideologically conservative career attorneys.  In 2004, he told a fellow DOJ attorney in an e-mail, “Just between you and me, we hired another member of ‘the team’ yesterday.  And still another ideological comrade will be starting in one month.  So we are making progress.”  According to the report, Schlozman’s reference to “the team” was to The Federalist Society.  The report documents that Schlozman referred to colleagues who did not share his political point of view as “libs” and “pinkos.”  Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2007, Schlozman denied any allegations of malfeasance about the division’s hiring practices, leading to allegations that Schlozman committed perjury. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia informed the Inspector General’s Office last week that it will not be prosecuting Schlozman.

The report exposing Schlozman’s actions is the latest involving impropriety within the Ashcroft and Gonzalez Departments of Justice.  A June DOJ report found that applicants for the Attorney General’s Honors Program and Justice’s Summer Law Intern Program encountered discrimination based on their political and ideological affiliations.  Those discriminated against included members of the American Constitution Society.  Additional information on this earlier report is available here.

In this fall’s edition of The Harvard Law and Policy Review, Senator Edward M. Kennedy authored a series of recommendations designed to restore the integrity of the Civil Rights Division.  An October 16, 2008 ACS panel that included Ron Klain, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Sally Katzen, Deborah Pearlstein, and William Yeomans also addressed possible reforms of the DOJ.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on January 13, 2009 (boomark / email).