Bush's long history of tilting Justice
The administration began skewing federal law enforcement before
the current U.S. attorney scandal, says a former Department of
Justice lawyer.
By Joseph D. Rich
03/29/07 "Los
Angeles Times" -- -- THE SCANDAL unfolding around
the firing of eight U.S. attorneys compels the conclusion that
the Bush administration has rewarded loyalty over all else. A
destructive pattern of partisan political actions at the Justice
Department started long before this incident, however, as those
of us who worked in its civil rights division can attest.
I spent more than 35 years in the department enforcing federal
civil rights laws ? particularly voting rights. Before leaving
in 2005, I worked for attorneys general with dramatically
different political philosophies ? from John Mitchell to Ed
Meese to Janet Reno. Regardless of the administration, the
political appointees had respect for the experience and judgment
of longtime civil servants.
Under the Bush administration, however, all that changed. Over
the last six years, this Justice Department has ignored the
advice of its staff and skewed aspects of law enforcement in
ways that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of
elections.
It has notably shirked its legal responsibility to protect
voting rights. From 2001 to 2006, no voting discrimination cases
were brought on behalf of African American or Native American
voters. U.S. attorneys were told instead to give priority to
voter fraud cases, which, when coupled with the strong support
for voter ID laws, indicated an intent to depress voter turnout
in minority and poor communities.
At least two of the recently fired U.S. attorneys, John McKay in
Seattle and David C. Iglesias in New Mexico, were targeted
largely because they refused to prosecute voting fraud cases
that implicated Democrats or voters likely to vote for
Democrats.
This pattern also extended to hiring. In March 2006, Bradley
Schlozman was appointed interim U.S. attorney in Kansas City,
Mo. Two weeks earlier, the administration was granted the
authority to make such indefinite appointments without Senate
confirmation. That was too bad: A Senate hearing might have
uncovered Schlozman's central role in politicizing the civil
rights division during his three-year tenure.
Schlozman, for instance, was part of the team of political
appointees that approved then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's
plan to redraw congressional districts in Texas, which in 2004
increased the number of Republicans elected to the House.
Similarly, Schlozman was acting assistant attorney general in
charge of the division when the Justice Department OKd a Georgia
law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls. These
decisions went against the recommendations of career staff, who
asserted that such rulings discriminated against minority
voters. The warnings were prescient: Both proposals were struck
down by federal courts.
Schlozman continued to influence elections as an interim U.S.
attorney. Missouri had one of the closest Senate races in the
country last November, and a week before the election, Schlozman
brought four voter fraud indictments against members of an
organization representing poor and minority people. This
blatantly contradicted the department's long-standing policy to
wait until after an election to bring such indictments because a
federal criminal investigation might affect the outcome of the
vote. The timing of the Missouri indictments could not have made
the administration's aims more transparent.
This administration is also politicizing the career staff of the
Justice Department. Outright hostility to career employees who
disagreed with the political appointees was evident early on.
Seven career managers were removed in the civil rights division.
I personally was ordered to change performance evaluations of
several attorneys under my supervision. I was told to include
critical comments about those whose recommendations ran counter
to the political will of the administration and to improve
evaluations of those who were politically favored.
Morale plummeted, resulting in an alarming exodus of career
attorneys. In the last two years, 55% to 60% of attorneys in the
voting section have transferred to other departments or left the
Justice Department entirely.
At the same time, career staff were nearly cut out of the
process of hiring lawyers. Control of hiring went to political
appointees, so an applicant's fidelity to GOP interests replaced
civil rights experience as the most important factor in hiring
decisions.
For decades prior to this administration, the Justice Department
had successfully kept politics out of its law enforcement
decisions. Hopefully, the spotlight on this misconduct will
begin the process of restoring dignity and nonpartisanship to
federal law enforcement. As the 2008 elections approach, it is
critical to have a Justice Department that approaches its
responsibility to all eligible voters without favor.
JOSEPH D. RICH was chief of the voting section in the Justice
Department's civil right division from 1999 to 2005. He now
works for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
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