Congress must aggressively pursue Justice Department

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey’s characterization of the improper hiring practices in the Justice Department as a “painful” episode understates the seriousness of what occurred.

Not unexpectedly, Mukasey has concluded there will be no criminal charges brought against Justice officials who embraced the blatantly political litmus test in the hiring of professional personnel: Liberals need not apply.

In so doing, they denied highly qualified, top-of-their-class candidates for U.S. attorney positions and for civil service jobs. An internal investigation of the hiring practices by the Justice Department’s inspector general and the ethics office found that civil service laws were violated. In addition, the probes concluded that officials went beyond what has been accepted practice in the hiring of federal prosecutors.

As we have noted in the past, U.S. attorneys are political appointees and serve at the will of the president. They can be terminated at any time, without cause. Each new administration puts its stamp on the department through such hirings, but the Bush White House took it to a whole new level.

Under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, eight federal prosecutors were fired, and subsequent congressional hearings revealed the president’s involvement. Bush talked to Gonzales about concerns that were voiced to him by Republicans about the way some of the federal prosecutors were doing their jobs.

When the firings became public, the administration contended that they were not triggered by job performance. Officials then changed their story and said the terminations had to do with the way the eight prosecutors were doing their jobs.

High marks

However, the records of the eight showed they had received high marks for the way they carried out their responsibilities.

Several of the fired U.S. attorneys told the Senate Judiciary Committee that there was improper pressure on them by Republicans with regard to pending cases.

Against this backdrop, Attorney General Mukasey’s description of what took place certainly defines understatement.

The hiring practices were so political as to be insulting, not only to the qualified applicants, but the American people.

There are times when politics should take a back seat to good governance.

While Justice Department officials responsible for the hirings and firings are no longer with the federal government, there will be no charges filed against them, even for alleged violations of civil service laws.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, is right in insisting that something more needs to be done than the mere departure of the individuals who were responsible for the Justice Department’s black eye.

Schumer intends to introduce legislation to make it a crime to use political factors in hiring for career positions, according to the New York Times.

Congress should also ensure that the applicants who were turned down because they were “liberal” are given another opportunity for employment.

The Bush administration is in its final months of its term and a new president will take office in January. There should be no misunderstanding as to what is acceptable behavior in the Justice Department.