The Daily Background

The Department of Justice is apparently now going through their records and investigating all the hirings and firings decisions made by former DoJ-White House liaison Monica Goodling (pictured right), who recently testified before Congress that she “crossed the line” by considering political affiliation when hiring DoJ employees.

Specifically, Goodling essentially admitted to asking potential job applicants whether or not they were Republicans, before deciding whether or not they should be hired. In some cases, she made judgments that certain applicants were “too liberal” for the job they were applying for, and did her best to kill their appointment or at least stall their application process.

There are strict laws against considering political factors when hiring career employees at the Department of Justice, and Goodling may have acted illegally, although she testified under a form of immunity called “use immunity” which prevents her statements from being used against her. Here’s McClatchy with more on the DoJ internal investigation:

The Justice Department had acknowledged that its watchdogs are evaluating the propriety of the department’s firings of the prosecutors and personnel decisions by Monica Goodling, a former counselor and White House liaison, who told a House of Representatives committee last week that she “crossed the lines” by applying political litmus tests when hiring career professionals.

It couldn’t be determined whether the Goodling inquiry will be expanded to include what direction she received from higher-ups within the department or the White House.

The announcement Wednesday, however, indicated that the internal inquiry is looking more broadly at charges of politicization across the department.

I’ve heard some skepticism as to whether or not these types of internal DoJ investigations are just a whitewash or not (there seems to be some debate over whether they are superficial glances at allegations or a more serious probe), but this is certainly encouraging news nonetheless.

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