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DOJ REPORT: TOP OFFICIALS ILLEGALLY BLOCKED DEMOCRATS FROM IMMIGRATION JUDGE AND ATTORNEY APPOINTMENTS

By Greg Siskind

Wow.This is pretty serious stuff and could result in indictments. Monica Goodling, the DOJ liaison to the White House, appears to be in the greatest jeopardy, based on the DOJ report (see below), but others are in trouble as well including the former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. The long and short of it is that the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the office responsible for the nation's immigration judges, is governed by the civil service regulations and have pretty strict rules on hiring:

It is the policy of the Department of Justice to seek to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status,
political affiliation, age, or physical or mental handicap in employment within the Department and to assure equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for
employment.

The DOJ obtained emails between DOJ political appointees which appear to show that party official was a litmus test for the hiring of immigration judges by EOIR and members of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a tough press release also raising the possibility of pursuing perjury charges against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as well as Goodling related to testimony they gave in the spring which is contradicted in the DOJ report:

Today's report describes ?systematic? violations of federal law by several former leaders of the Department of Justice. Apparently, the political screening was so pervasive that even qualified Republican applicants were rejected from Department positions because they were ?not Republican enough? for Monica Goodling and others. The report also makes clear that the cost to our nation of these apparent crimes was severe, as qualified individuals were rejected for key positions in the fight against terrorism and other critical Department jobs for no reason other than political whim. The Report also indicates that Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, and Alberto Gonzales may have lied to the Congress about these matters. I have directed my staff to closely review this matter and to consider whether a criminal referral for perjury is needed.

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Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on July 28, 2008 (boomark / email).