{"id":2549,"date":"2011-06-02T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T17:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/?p=2549"},"modified":"2016-11-16T20:44:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T01:44:00","slug":"doj-civil-rights-hiring-comes-under-republican-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/crcl\/doj-civil-rights-hiring-comes-under-republican-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Civil Rights Hiring Comes Under Republican Scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division came under fire<\/a> during the Bush Administration for stacking attorney positions with conservative lawyers with little civil rights experience.\u00a0 Now, the Civil Rights Division is coming under fire for doing just the opposite \u2013 hiring lawyers with <\/em>civil rights experience.<\/p>\n

A New York Times\u2019 analysis of resumes of successful applicants to attorney positions in the Civil Rights Division revealed that Obama-era hires were more likely to have worked previously at civil rights organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU than were Bush-era hires.\u00a0 While DOJ is using civil rights experience as a job qualification for positions in a Division whose mission is to \u201cuphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans<\/a>,\u201d some are crying foul at this change in hiring policy, arguing that it is a means of packing the Division with left-leaning lawyers.<\/p>\n

The New York Times writes<\/a>:\u00a0 \u201cRobert Driscoll, a Bush administration official at the division who left before the hiring scandal, said that a policy of allowing professional civil rights lawyers to make hiring decisions based on civil rights experience was tactically \u2018brilliant\u2019 because it would result in disproportionately liberal outcomes without any need for interference by Obama political appointees. . . . But Joseph Rich, a former voting rights section chief who left during the Bush administration, argued that hiring people to enforce civil rights laws by looking for previous experience working on civil rights matters was not the same thing as looking for a particular political ideology. \u00a0\u2018You\u2019re not hiring people because they are liberal,\u2019 Mr. Rich said. \u00a0\u2018You\u2019re hiring them because they have terrific experience in civil rights, and that\u2019s what you need.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 1st, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee held its first oversight hearing<\/a> on the Civil Rights Division.\u00a0 Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez testified<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division came under fire during the Bush Administration for stacking attorney positions with conservative lawyers 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