From the statement of Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing concerning “Politicized Hiring at the Department of Justice,” July 30, 2008 :
The first report, issued on June 24, 2008, examined hiring practices in the Department’s Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP). In that report, we determined that Screening Committees used by the Department to screen applications for the Honors and Summer Law Internship Programs inappropriately used political or ideological affiliations to “deselect” candidates in 2006 and in 2002. ...
"In sum, we concluded that many qualified candidates were deselected by the Screening Committee in 2006 because of their perceived political or ideological affiliations. We concluded that McDonald’s and Elston’s actions constituted misconduct and violated Department policy and federal law that prohibits discrimination in hiring for career positions based on political or ideological affiliations." ...
"At the Department component level, we found that the processes individual components used from 2002 through 2006 for proposing candidates to the Screening Committee appeared to be merit based."
"This
week, on July 28, we issued a second joint report that examined the actions
of Monica Goodling, the Department’s former White House Liaison, and other
staff in the Attorney General’s office regarding allegations that they inappropriately
used political or ideological affiliations in the hiring process for career Department positions." ...
"Based on our investigation, we concluded that Goodling violated federal law and Department policy, and committed misconduct, by improperly considering political or ideological affiliations in screening candidates for certain career positions at the Department. ...
"We
found that the most systematic use of improper political or ideological affiliations
in screening candidates for career positions occurred in the selection
of immigration judges, who are career employees who work in the Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)."
















