J
Joe S.
Guest
QUOTE
Political Appointees No Longer to Pick Justice Interns
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 28, 2007; A02
The Justice Department is removing political appointees from the hiring
process for rookie lawyers and summer interns, amid allegations that the
Bush administration had rigged the programs in favor of candidates with
connections to conservative or Republican groups, according to documents and
officials.
The decision, outlined in an internal memo distributed Thursday, returns
control of the Attorney General's Honors Program and the Summer Law Intern
Program to career lawyers in the department after four years during which
political appointees directed the process.
The changes come as the Justice Department is scrutinized for its hiring and
firing practices because of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Some of
the fired prosecutors were removed because they were not considered "loyal
Bushies" by senior Justice and White House officials.
Justice officials said the change was prompted by a contentious staff
meeting in early December, which included complaints that political
appointees led by Michael J. Elston, chief of staff for Deputy Attorney
General Paul J. McNulty, had rejected an unusually large number of
applicants during the most recent hiring period. Last year, about 400
applicants were interviewed for the honors program -- the primary path to a
Justice Department job for new lawyers -- down from more than 600 the year
before.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees also are investigating allegations
from an anonymous group of Justice employees that most of those cut from the
application lists had worked for Democrats or liberal causes and that Elston
removed people for spurious reasons that included "inappropriate information
about them on the Internet."
Justice officials strongly deny that political or partisan factors play any
role in who is chosen for the two programs. But they acknowledged yesterday
that the involvement of political appointees helped feed suspicions that the
process had been tainted.
"The Justice Department does not, nor has it ever, solicited any information
from applicants . . . about their political affiliation or orientation,"
said Justice spokesman Dean Boyd. But, he added, the changes "should further
improve the process and eliminate even the perception of any political
influence."
The honors program, established during the Eisenhower administration, is a
highly regarded recruiting program that attracts thousands of applicants
from top-flight law schools for about 150 spots each year and has been
overseen for most of its history by senior career lawyers at Justice.
Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft reworked the program in 2002,
shifting control from career employees to himself and his aides.
The changes alarmed many current and former Justice officials, who feared
that the Bush administration was seeking to pack the department with
conservative ideologues. Many law school placement officers said in 2003
that they noticed a marked shift to the right in the students approached for
honors program interviews.
Complaints about the program emerged again this month after Senate and House
investigators received a letter from the unidentified Justice employees, who
alleged that hiring at the department was "consistently and methodically
being eroded by partisan politics." The letter singled out the honors and
intern programs, alleging that senior political appointees appeared to
reject applicants who "had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a
Democratic judge, worked for a 'liberal' cause, or otherwise appeared to
have 'liberal' leanings."
Boyd and other Justice officials said such allegations are without merit.
They pointed to statistics showing that Harvard, Stanford, Yale and other
elite universities continue to dominate hiring for the honors program.
Officials said many of the complaints last fall stemmed from serious delays
in the review process, partly because Elston and other political officials
were new to the process.
Louis DeFalaise, a career employee and director of the Office of Attorney
Recruitment and Management, said in Thursday's memo that his office would
oversee the hiring process, which will be handled by career lawyers from
various Justice divisions. Similar changes will be applied to the summer
intern program, according to the memo, which was obtained by The Washington
Post.
"The 2007 changes to these programs represent another step in the
department's multi-year effort to enhance these prestigious programs," Boyd
said.
According to current and former Justice employees, many of whom spoke about
fellow lawyers on the condition of anonymity, the centralization of the
honors program selection process in the hands of political appointees
markedly changed the profile of the entry-level lawyers hired, particularly
in the department's civil rights division.
Since 2002, when Ashcroft adopted the hiring method the department is now
abandoning, a large share of honors hires have had strong conservative or
Republican ties, according to Justice lawyers and law school
career-placement officers.
Bill Condon, an honors hire in the civil rights division who graduated in
2004 from Regent University, a small Christian school in Virginia Beach,
recounted his job interview recently in the school's alumni magazine. Condon
wrote that, when an interviewer asked him which Supreme Court decision he
disagreed with most, Condon cited a 2003 ruling that struck down a Texas law
outlawing homosexual acts, a decision that has been a lightning rod for
social conservatives.
One of his interviewers, Condon wrote, suggested that, coming from Regent,
"I may be interested in some religious liberties cases" the civil rights
division was bringing in a new area of emphasis for the division.
According to a former deputy chief in the civil rights division, one honors
hire was a University of Mississippi law school graduate who had been a
clerk for U.S. District Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. about the time the
judge's nomination by President Bush to a federal appeals court provoked
opposition by congressional Democrats, who contended that Pickering was
hostile to civil rights.
A few months after he arrived, that lawyer was given a cash award by the
department, after he was the only member of a four-person team in the civil
rights division who sided with a Georgia voter-identification law that was
later struck down by the courts as discriminatory to minorities, according
to two former Justice lawyers.
Another honors hire, a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law
who had been president of the campus chapter of the Federalist Society,
displayed a bust of President James Madison in his Justice office, according
to a former honors program lawyer who was hired during the Clinton
administration. A profile of Madison's face is the logo of the society,
which is based on conservative precepts.
"When I started," the former honors program lawyer said, "it was rare you
met people whose civil rights credentials were that they were part of the
Federalist Society, but it became a commonplace thing."
Justice officials say it is hardly unusual for a lawyer to be a member of
the Federalist Society, which has more than 30,000 members in 65 chapters
worldwide.
Harvard Law School officials said they contacted the department last fall,
after students seeking internships expressed concern that they had not been
notified by October whether they would be granted an interview, as the
department had promised.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702190.html?hpid=topnewsEND QUOTE
Political Appointees No Longer to Pick Justice Interns
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 28, 2007; A02
The Justice Department is removing political appointees from the hiring
process for rookie lawyers and summer interns, amid allegations that the
Bush administration had rigged the programs in favor of candidates with
connections to conservative or Republican groups, according to documents and
officials.
The decision, outlined in an internal memo distributed Thursday, returns
control of the Attorney General's Honors Program and the Summer Law Intern
Program to career lawyers in the department after four years during which
political appointees directed the process.
The changes come as the Justice Department is scrutinized for its hiring and
firing practices because of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys. Some of
the fired prosecutors were removed because they were not considered "loyal
Bushies" by senior Justice and White House officials.
Justice officials said the change was prompted by a contentious staff
meeting in early December, which included complaints that political
appointees led by Michael J. Elston, chief of staff for Deputy Attorney
General Paul J. McNulty, had rejected an unusually large number of
applicants during the most recent hiring period. Last year, about 400
applicants were interviewed for the honors program -- the primary path to a
Justice Department job for new lawyers -- down from more than 600 the year
before.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees also are investigating allegations
from an anonymous group of Justice employees that most of those cut from the
application lists had worked for Democrats or liberal causes and that Elston
removed people for spurious reasons that included "inappropriate information
about them on the Internet."
Justice officials strongly deny that political or partisan factors play any
role in who is chosen for the two programs. But they acknowledged yesterday
that the involvement of political appointees helped feed suspicions that the
process had been tainted.
"The Justice Department does not, nor has it ever, solicited any information
from applicants . . . about their political affiliation or orientation,"
said Justice spokesman Dean Boyd. But, he added, the changes "should further
improve the process and eliminate even the perception of any political
influence."
The honors program, established during the Eisenhower administration, is a
highly regarded recruiting program that attracts thousands of applicants
from top-flight law schools for about 150 spots each year and has been
overseen for most of its history by senior career lawyers at Justice.
Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft reworked the program in 2002,
shifting control from career employees to himself and his aides.
The changes alarmed many current and former Justice officials, who feared
that the Bush administration was seeking to pack the department with
conservative ideologues. Many law school placement officers said in 2003
that they noticed a marked shift to the right in the students approached for
honors program interviews.
Complaints about the program emerged again this month after Senate and House
investigators received a letter from the unidentified Justice employees, who
alleged that hiring at the department was "consistently and methodically
being eroded by partisan politics." The letter singled out the honors and
intern programs, alleging that senior political appointees appeared to
reject applicants who "had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a
Democratic judge, worked for a 'liberal' cause, or otherwise appeared to
have 'liberal' leanings."
Boyd and other Justice officials said such allegations are without merit.
They pointed to statistics showing that Harvard, Stanford, Yale and other
elite universities continue to dominate hiring for the honors program.
Officials said many of the complaints last fall stemmed from serious delays
in the review process, partly because Elston and other political officials
were new to the process.
Louis DeFalaise, a career employee and director of the Office of Attorney
Recruitment and Management, said in Thursday's memo that his office would
oversee the hiring process, which will be handled by career lawyers from
various Justice divisions. Similar changes will be applied to the summer
intern program, according to the memo, which was obtained by The Washington
Post.
"The 2007 changes to these programs represent another step in the
department's multi-year effort to enhance these prestigious programs," Boyd
said.
According to current and former Justice employees, many of whom spoke about
fellow lawyers on the condition of anonymity, the centralization of the
honors program selection process in the hands of political appointees
markedly changed the profile of the entry-level lawyers hired, particularly
in the department's civil rights division.
Since 2002, when Ashcroft adopted the hiring method the department is now
abandoning, a large share of honors hires have had strong conservative or
Republican ties, according to Justice lawyers and law school
career-placement officers.
Bill Condon, an honors hire in the civil rights division who graduated in
2004 from Regent University, a small Christian school in Virginia Beach,
recounted his job interview recently in the school's alumni magazine. Condon
wrote that, when an interviewer asked him which Supreme Court decision he
disagreed with most, Condon cited a 2003 ruling that struck down a Texas law
outlawing homosexual acts, a decision that has been a lightning rod for
social conservatives.
One of his interviewers, Condon wrote, suggested that, coming from Regent,
"I may be interested in some religious liberties cases" the civil rights
division was bringing in a new area of emphasis for the division.
According to a former deputy chief in the civil rights division, one honors
hire was a University of Mississippi law school graduate who had been a
clerk for U.S. District Judge Charles W. Pickering Sr. about the time the
judge's nomination by President Bush to a federal appeals court provoked
opposition by congressional Democrats, who contended that Pickering was
hostile to civil rights.
A few months after he arrived, that lawyer was given a cash award by the
department, after he was the only member of a four-person team in the civil
rights division who sided with a Georgia voter-identification law that was
later struck down by the courts as discriminatory to minorities, according
to two former Justice lawyers.
Another honors hire, a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law
who had been president of the campus chapter of the Federalist Society,
displayed a bust of President James Madison in his Justice office, according
to a former honors program lawyer who was hired during the Clinton
administration. A profile of Madison's face is the logo of the society,
which is based on conservative precepts.
"When I started," the former honors program lawyer said, "it was rare you
met people whose civil rights credentials were that they were part of the
Federalist Society, but it became a commonplace thing."
Justice officials say it is hardly unusual for a lawyer to be a member of
the Federalist Society, which has more than 30,000 members in 65 chapters
worldwide.
Harvard Law School officials said they contacted the department last fall,
after students seeking internships expressed concern that they had not been
notified by October whether they would be granted an interview, as the
department had promised.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702190.html?hpid=topnewsEND QUOTE
