I don’t want to alarm anyone, but it appears the Justice Department, throughout Bush’s two terms, flagrantly and repeatedly broke the law by politicizing the hiring process. Yes, I know we knew that before, but the DoJ’s Inspector General has made it official.
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.
The blistering report, 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 report found. Those practices, the report 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.”
According to the investigation, the Justice Department began ignoring merit and making employment decisions based on politics in 2002, when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft restructured the honors program, taking decisions away from career officials in each section of the department, giving power to Bush appointees. When Alberto Gonzales took the reins, the illegalities expanded and were intensified.
If you were affiliated with the Federalist Society, you were practically a shoe-in. If Bush appointees saw certain buzz words in your c.v. — works like “environmental” and “social justice” — your application was rejected.
Leave it to Bush and his cohorts to transform the Justice Department into the Just Us Department.
No Trackbacks To “From the Justice Department to the Just Us Department“
Same thing the crooked governor in KY did. He pardoned the lot of them and got away with it, except he lost his reelection bid.
yet another impeachable offense that will go unpunished by the “leadership” of the democratic party
I’ve been hearing about this since yesterday.
well when obama he had better clean house not just DOJ the way it sounds there are quite a few flat earthers in government kinda wonder how my DOJs are from second third string lawy schools?
Yeah, you’d think this would be an important news story. So I dropped by CNN.com to see how they were covering this today. Nothing significant that I could find, but they did give major room to a story about how the Naked Cowboy can sue M&Ms candy for using his likeness (as an M&M, I imagine).
The only people more efficient than the Bush Justice department at weeding out progressives and liberals is the mainstream media.
this is a disgrace………they intentionally hired less qualified lawyers because they would be loyal to a fault and look the other way…..they hired some lawyers from second and third tier law schools that weren’t as qualified………..
this is what scott mcClellen told us….. that this administration was in perpetual politicizing mode….the team was stacked…….UNFAIR ADVANTAGE from cheating
Too late …
… dont look over your shoulder … nothing but scorched earth as far as you can see … nothing to see here … move along.
Are there any rich people reading this blog?
Commission two bronze statues of Pelossi and Reid blind folded and in chains.
If those with money could care less, then lets start an ‘art’ fund. Lets buy one acre of land in a prominent location and start a permanent collection of enemies of the constitution and the people statuary with eplanatory plaques.
Not that anyone will answer, but seems to me the next questions are what did the President know and when did he know it. I’m sure Ashcroft and Gonzales carried this out all by themselves, but still, do you think someone could think to ask . . .
Why is the Bush-era DOJ hiring any lawyers if they don’t believe in the rule of law?
Moral Compass @ 9:
Prosecute democrats
Shocking, simply shocking, why I almost cannot believe it. Damned liberal media must be making this up, because if it was real, certainly something would be done about. Someone would beheld accountable. Lets call the Justice Department about. Hey, I have a better idea, lets tell Reid and Pelosi about it. They’ll do something about it! Wow, great to have a crackerjack Congress around.
Comey and Ashcroft know. They know
What the Hell is going on! Is there any more evidence to convict these guys? Dear God! It’s like the entire Bush Administration has a neon sign above their heads, stating,”Yes, we have commited crimes. But, tough shit!” No wonder me and all my fellow C&L’s are so dissprited!
Fascists don’t do Justice.
marko @ 2:
Dude, your anger is misdirected. You continuously skip the actual perpetrators(the Bush Crime Family), directing your venom only at the Democrats.
anon @ 10:
2) Keep up appearances.
i think this is very important for people to understand what democrats have been up against…………
an UNFAIR ADVANTAGE…..signing statements,
misinformation,veto,stacked DOJ,no-bid contracts,
secrecy,executive priv.,manipulation,cheating…..this has been a tough battle for them something they have never seen before….if you have a politically bias DOJ the meaning of u.s.a. is lost….this administration wants to
judge their own judgements
ken martin @ 4:
These are career civil service appointments, not political slots. Can’t touch ‘em. That’s kinda the point.
Is there any way that some of the people who were turned away based on their political leanings could sue the Justice Dept based on discrimination? If it were any other business they sure could.
This is all just a small part of Rove’s 1000-year Republican Rule scenario. It won’t be remedied by centrists (sorry Barack). Only progressive liberal Democrats of conscience can restore the values and philosphies that reflect the true intent of the founding fathers. We’ve just lived through the near destruction of Democracy. Let’s get it back.
One of the dis-qualifiers was the applicants use of left language terms like ’social justice’.
But of course, Bush absolutely could not have anyone in Justice with that description.
Foggg @ 18:
Even if the way they got the appts was illegal?
Sorry, I lost my will to care anymore.
Thank you Pelosi.
if the democratic leadership of the house and senate still thinks “impeachment is off the table”, NANCY and HARRY must go.
anon @ 10:
Caging.
Rove Rips NYT For Outing CIA Agent’s Identity And ‘Putting Our Country At Risk’»
On Sunday, the New York Times published an extensive article examining the CIA’s interrogation of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM). The article identified the name of the CIA agent who interrogated KSM, Deuce Martinez.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/.....cia-agent/
This is absolutely insane……Put an apple in Rove’s mouth and roast him. Why does he get any air time?
pissed off patricia @ 22:
Violations of the Hatch Act are punishable by firing. But that is for those who violated the Act, not those hired by the violators.
“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.”
Gosh…a Republican administration actively working to gut civil rights laws by stacking the DOJ with cronies who won’t bother to enforce them??? I don’t believe it. Next you’ll be telling me that they stacked the Food and Drug administration with pharmaceutical company cronies that didn’t bother to enforce drug testing policies, and free trade hacks who didn’t bother to ensure that tainted food could be traced to its origin to contain outbreaks of salmonella poisoning.
What’s worse is that the spineless sycophantic pack animals in the Press and in Congress are only talking about this now that everybody ELSE has turned against the Bush administration, and is calling them on their s#!t. When they were still strongly in power, and riding high in the polls, they were all more than willing to follow the percieved alpha males.
People, people, let’s not despair! We have months to get through this crap. Let’s just veg-out for a while and get prescriptions for Prozac.
I have no doubt this wasn’t just a DoJ thing, and that this sort of thing is why Iraq was such a clusterfuck from the beginning. This sort of governmental gangrene is just as contagious as the actual disease.
It’s ultimate Reaganomics. Government can’t be the solution, because government is the problem. Ipso facto…bring lawyers into government who reject governmental action out of hand, thus conferring upon government a patina of illegitimacy, except illegitimacy does not extend to the lawyers themselves, because they were chosen by a president who was elected by the people.
Oh, that’s right. Bush wasn’t really elected. Oh, shit. Houston, we’ve got a problem here.
Left&Left @ 15:
Dude,
If i hand a loaded .38 to a six year old and he shoots his babysitter, who is culpable???
The Bush family feel they are above the law, Pelosi had an historic oppurtunity (and still does) to impeach a standing Bush president….and didn’t/won’t.
That makes the Dems JUST AS GUILTY!!!!!!!!! We expect Bush to be a despot, the anger is against the ENABLERS!!!!
Pelosi is a traitor to her country, the Constitution, her party and the World. Because Bush’s MONUMENTAL mistakes are killing and torturing and imprisoning and spying on innocent people all over the world….today…right now…as we speak.
And every new story that comes out and CONFIRMS what we already know about this administrations complete disregard for the law.
euro 2008:
Germany go to the final
Patty D. @ 29:
Don’t need one. l Just turn on your tap.
Part of the Republicans “Clean Water” initiative. Funded by Eli Lilly.
It’s not just DoJ.
I was discriminated against by an employer three years ago.
I had the head of HR ON TAPE in the meeting when he told me he was using selective enforcement in my case. And he said it twice so there was no misspeak.
When I took this to EEOC they said after their investigation that there was no evidence of discrimination other than my tape and they couldn’t use that. Which was a lie according to one of their lawyers.
I later found out that EEOC has been directed on what cases to take and what not to take. This is why we have had virtually no action in this area.
This is just another in the long list of crimes committed against the people of this country by this administration. And I will be glad to see the backside of them in January
As Cheney would say, “So?!”
I mean, really. Like anything will be done about this? Just add it to the list.
marko @ 32:
What is Pelosi working on now? Since she took impeachment off the table to do the people’s business instead?
Pelosi Backs Reincarnation of Fairness Doctrine
Thanks Pelosi for wasting the time on something so important.
Were these folks more of the brain trust from Liberty U.?
How is Cindy Sheehan doing as far as replacing Nancy P.? Has Pelosi said anything about why she won’t at least threaten impeachment?
SickupandFed @ 34:
Damn…
This explains how a nation with 300 million people stretching across two coasts and most of an entire continent, and possessing a part of Polynesia and the Arctic-Subarctic to boot, can’t even control a landlocked nation of 28 million. Bush made the same damn stupid mistakes Lincoln and Davis both did during the Civil War, hiring people more for loyalty than skill at the job and smarts.
Hillary has been very quiet.
Has she stopped fighting for us? Ha ha what I freaking empty slogan that was.
i’ll alert the media….. bush and administration not fair….. not balanced…..
…..w00h00…. guess we told them….. to bad it is one of THEIR judges who will be judging the case…..
on the other hand—- in the end it is THEIR GOD who will be throwing them into the flaming pits of hell…..
………………gotta love karma
if we had a congress full of kuciniches (kucinichi?) we would be able to say that at least one branch of the govt was actually attempting to protect the constitution.
instead we have partisan bullshit.
bush and cheney (and all their pimple poppers) should be on trial. period.
both parties have utterly failed america.
Let me guess, impeachment is still off the table?
Thanks Nancy
This does violate The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. This isn’t some obscure law. This is the law that establishes the Civil Service. If this did in fact happen (and knowing Bush it did) then it is another Impeachable Offense. My only question is this; what the hell is wrong with these Democrats in Congress?
How long can we, as a country put up with this? DOJ destroyed, Bizillions in debt, broken army, gas prices sky high, two wars(maybe three, with McCain’s attitude about Iran). How did we get into such a mess? I blame the Supreme Court for giving us Georgie in the first place.
harley @ 23:
I’m sorry I have to agree with you.
Patty D. @ 45:
I blame the American people for being more obsessed with the Superbowl and sales at Walmart than politics. The American people have been out to lunch for a long time.
What will happen to those republiscum lawyers once they are ferreted out of DoJ? Watch out for their return to their home districts. Who knows what kind of damage they’ll try to cause at the local level?
I Like Pie @ 47:
we are a nation of children, more interested in the shiny object than the dirty hand holding it.
the marketing of “cool”, decades of successive admins (reagan, bush, clinton, bush) governing at the behest of corporate interests, failed economic ideologies, etc.
marko @ 32: