1 Boring Old Man

Dear Messrs. Chairman,

Many of us in the Department of Justice have been watching with admiration as you expose the overly political firing of United States Attorneys and hope that you can help in returning our beloved Department to of establishing justice in the United States. We are equally concerned, however, about the politicizing of the non-political ranks of Justice employees, offices which are consistently and methodically being eroded by partisan politics.

Many employees within the Department’s litigating divisions are sitting quietly by, hoping that you will investigate what has happened to the Attorney General’s Honors Program and even the Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP). You are surely aware that the Attorney General’s Honors Program has a long history of hiring top students from a variety of law schools, and it is the only way that young lawyers are able to come into the Department immediately after law school. This year the divisions once again pored over applications and resumes, choosing students to interview who demonstrated not only excellent grades but a real interest in the areas of law they might be hired to work in. After choosing potential candidates to interview, the division personnel forwarded their lists to the Office of Attorney Recruitment Management for what was traditionally final approval. This is no longer a final step, however, because the list had to go higher – to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. When the list of potential interviewees was returned this year, it had been cut dramatically.

When division personnel staff later compared the remaining interviewees with the candidates struck form the list, one common denominator appeared repeatedly: most of those struck form the list had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a “liberal” cause, or otherwise appeared to have “liberal” leanings. Summa cum laude graduates of both Yale and Harvard were rejected for interviews.

While the current political appointees repeatedly remind everyone that the U.S. Attorneys “serve at the pleasure of the President,” the Department’s career attorneys serve the people of the United States. We hope you will see fit to include this politicizing of the career ranks in your questioning of Attorney General Gonzales and his staff.

Thank you.

A Group of Concerned Department of Justice Employees

It’s been a troubling week: The tragedy at Virginia Tech. Today’s [non] testimony by the Attorney General. The escalating violence in Iraq. But somehow, I found this damning letter from a group of concerned career employees at the Department of Justice comforting. The Administration has been surprisingly free of whistle-blowers. With the notable exception of Joseph Wilson, Paul Oniell, and Richard Clarke, we’ve had to do dental extractions to find out anything much about what’s gone on. Where are the heros? Where are the people who see what’s going on and come clean out of a sense of personal morality? This has been the most corrupt and secretive Administration in my lifetime, and there haven’t been the kind of whistleblowers that let us peek at the inside of things.