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Will the next President clean up the Justice Department?
By Lauren | August 8, 2008
In a recent report to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Inspector General Glenn Fine said that one of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ top advisors violated federal civil service laws by regularly considering political affiliations in screening candidates for career positions at the Department of Justice. According to Fine, Gonzalez aide Monica Goodling chose candidates whom she perceived to be conservative (and supportive of President Bush) over those she thought were too liberal, with the result that high quality candidates were rejected in favor of less qualified ones. Fine’s report describes one particularly troubling case where Goodling allegedly rejected a terrorism prosecutor for a job in counter-terrorism at DOJ because his wife was active in local Democratic Party politics; this well-qualified lawyer was passed over in favor of a less experienced (but conservative) candidate.
This story hits close to home because I started my legal career at the Justice Department, working for an Administration whose politics I did not share. Although I disagreed with the political views of the appointees at the top of the agency, I was very proud to be part of “the nation’s law firm,” and I know first-hand what important work DOJ does to protect our country. Politics may determine policy at the highest levels of government, but for career attorneys working down the hierarchy at Justice, competence is far more important than a particular point of view.
The lawyers at DOJ handle enormous, complex litigation involving millions of dollars and vital questions of law. They try cases against tremendously skilled opponents from the best law firms in the United States. If they lose because of inexperience or incompetence, the nation suffers. The Bush Administration claims that protecting America from terrorism is a top priority; this is not the time to staff DOJ with second-class lawyers simply because they happen to share the President’s political perspective.
Do you think it was ethical for Goodling to play politics at the nation’s expense? Then again, her appointees are now firmly entrenched in the Justice Department; would it be ethical for those people to lose their jobs simply because they were appointed for the wrong reason? Has your candidate commented on the Inspector General’s report, and does he have a plan to address the situation? What would he do, and are you okay with that? You decide.
Topics: Presidential Campaign, Social Ethics, ethics |
August 8th, 2008 at 10:15 am
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August 14th, 2008 at 2:00 am
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