Today's Article
Has the Bush
Administration been
appointing judges
with ties to partisan
politics?
Administration been
appointing judges
with ties to partisan
politics?
The American Spark
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Bush's Justice Dept. Hired Partisan Judges, Say Officials
By Cliff Montgomery - May 28, 2007
The Bush Justice Department used a political affiliation litmus-test in hiring applicants for immigration court
judgeships for several years, admit current and former Bush Administration officials. Further hiring was
suspended in December after objections to the partisan practice from department lawyers, the officials add.
The disclosures reveal that Bush's Justice Department may have directly violated civil service laws--which
outlaw political considerations in hiring--for a solid two years before Monica Goodling, the former senior
counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who testified to Congress about the process last week, was put
in charge of hirings at the department.
Goodling admitted to the House Judiciary Committee on May 23rd that she "crossed the line" in weighing
political affiliation for numerous categories of Justice Department career applicants, including immigration
judges.
The attorney for Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, wrote in a May 25th statement that Sampson
and other top Justice officials also forwarded names of applicants with the proper political affiliation for
appointments to the immigration courts, based on both legal advice given to Sampson and on common
historical practice in the Bush department.
"Based on this understanding, Kyle Sampson and others in the department believed it appropriate to forward
names of qualified candidates who enjoyed political support," Sampson Attorney Bradford Berenson wrote in a
statement.
The Justice Department admitted to the Washington Post on Friday that its administrative immigration courts
are prevented by civil service laws from making appointments on the basis of political considerations.
Sampson began his tenure at Justice in late 2003, and officials have told the Post that the partisan hirings
probably began in early 2004. Goodling was made Gonzales' counsel in October 2005, and his White House
liaison and senior counselor and in April 2006.
The department's hiring practices have come to light because of the controversial firings last year of nine U.S.
attorneys, in part over political considerations. A Justice Department investigation of the firings has now been
expanded to include whether Goodling and other Gonzales aides used presumed political affiliation as a basis
for hiring applicants filling non-political jobs.
But one wonders how impartial the department will be in its investigation of itself. This "investigation" probably
is not meant for fact, but for debate. With the Justice report, George W. Bush can then claim that the results
of any other investigation which do not match those at Justice must be "biased", thus providing him a needed
rhetorical device.
Such an "investigation" at Justice doesn't have to be accurate; it merely has to allow deniability, and the
chance for Bush to project the obvious failing of his administration onto his opponents.
Goodling testified to representatives that Sampson told her the department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
had decided that immigration judges were not under civil service rules.
The Justice Department countered, declaring after her testimony that it had "located no record" of any OLC
opinion reaching that conclusion. But Goodling's attorney, John Dowd, retorted that in her testimony Goodling
was discussing verbal advice she received from Sampson, and not referring to any written OLC opinion.
Berenson told the Post that the legal debate over whether immigration judges are under civil service rules "was
highly uncertain and legally complex."
America's 226 immigration judges are civil service employees hand-picked by the attorney general. Gonzales
has hired 26, while his predecessor, John Ashcroft, chose 49, Justice officials told the Post.
Many judges appointed over the past two years have fierce Republican or Bush Administration ties. They
include former top Justice officials and even a former Capitol Hill Republican Party counsel, according to
records.
Look at it this way: One judge hired in 2005, Garry Malphrus, had been associate director of the Bush White
House Domestic Policy Council from 2001 to 2004, records reveal. Another judge, Mark Metcalf, was
appointed last year; before that, Metcalf was a Bush Justice and Defense department lawyer who lost a run as
a Republican congressional candidate in Kentucky.
Officials told the Post that the issue of partisan judges came to a boil late last year when, in answer to a
lawsuit, Justice Department lawyers finally conceded that political considerations were being improperly used
as a part of the hiring process.
Hiring was frozen from December until April of this year, when a new merit-based personnel process became
the hiring standard, say Justice Department officials.
By Cliff Montgomery - May 28, 2007
The Bush Justice Department used a political affiliation litmus-test in hiring applicants for immigration court
judgeships for several years, admit current and former Bush Administration officials. Further hiring was
suspended in December after objections to the partisan practice from department lawyers, the officials add.
The disclosures reveal that Bush's Justice Department may have directly violated civil service laws--which
outlaw political considerations in hiring--for a solid two years before Monica Goodling, the former senior
counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who testified to Congress about the process last week, was put
in charge of hirings at the department.
Goodling admitted to the House Judiciary Committee on May 23rd that she "crossed the line" in weighing
political affiliation for numerous categories of Justice Department career applicants, including immigration
judges.
The attorney for Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, wrote in a May 25th statement that Sampson
and other top Justice officials also forwarded names of applicants with the proper political affiliation for
appointments to the immigration courts, based on both legal advice given to Sampson and on common
historical practice in the Bush department.
"Based on this understanding, Kyle Sampson and others in the department believed it appropriate to forward
names of qualified candidates who enjoyed political support," Sampson Attorney Bradford Berenson wrote in a
statement.
The Justice Department admitted to the Washington Post on Friday that its administrative immigration courts
are prevented by civil service laws from making appointments on the basis of political considerations.
Sampson began his tenure at Justice in late 2003, and officials have told the Post that the partisan hirings
probably began in early 2004. Goodling was made Gonzales' counsel in October 2005, and his White House
liaison and senior counselor and in April 2006.
The department's hiring practices have come to light because of the controversial firings last year of nine U.S.
attorneys, in part over political considerations. A Justice Department investigation of the firings has now been
expanded to include whether Goodling and other Gonzales aides used presumed political affiliation as a basis
for hiring applicants filling non-political jobs.
But one wonders how impartial the department will be in its investigation of itself. This "investigation" probably
is not meant for fact, but for debate. With the Justice report, George W. Bush can then claim that the results
of any other investigation which do not match those at Justice must be "biased", thus providing him a needed
rhetorical device.
Such an "investigation" at Justice doesn't have to be accurate; it merely has to allow deniability, and the
chance for Bush to project the obvious failing of his administration onto his opponents.
Goodling testified to representatives that Sampson told her the department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
had decided that immigration judges were not under civil service rules.
The Justice Department countered, declaring after her testimony that it had "located no record" of any OLC
opinion reaching that conclusion. But Goodling's attorney, John Dowd, retorted that in her testimony Goodling
was discussing verbal advice she received from Sampson, and not referring to any written OLC opinion.
Berenson told the Post that the legal debate over whether immigration judges are under civil service rules "was
highly uncertain and legally complex."
America's 226 immigration judges are civil service employees hand-picked by the attorney general. Gonzales
has hired 26, while his predecessor, John Ashcroft, chose 49, Justice officials told the Post.
Many judges appointed over the past two years have fierce Republican or Bush Administration ties. They
include former top Justice officials and even a former Capitol Hill Republican Party counsel, according to
records.
Look at it this way: One judge hired in 2005, Garry Malphrus, had been associate director of the Bush White
House Domestic Policy Council from 2001 to 2004, records reveal. Another judge, Mark Metcalf, was
appointed last year; before that, Metcalf was a Bush Justice and Defense department lawyer who lost a run as
a Republican congressional candidate in Kentucky.
Officials told the Post that the issue of partisan judges came to a boil late last year when, in answer to a
lawsuit, Justice Department lawyers finally conceded that political considerations were being improperly used
as a part of the hiring process.
Hiring was frozen from December until April of this year, when a new merit-based personnel process became
the hiring standard, say Justice Department officials.