More DOJ Woes: Diversity Sorely Lacking (w/poll)

When the House Judiciary Committee starts taking up the whole "DOJ is a disaster" issue, you can expect Chairman John Conyers to hit hard on this administration's failure to hire any black attorneys to replace those who have left since 2003.

According to local Washington, D.C., ABC TV affiliate WJLA Channel 7's investigative reporting (transcript and video), today's US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has a severe lack of minority lawyers.

How severe? Out of 50 staff attorneys, only 2 are minorities. That's the same number of minorities they had back in 1978, when the department only had 25 staff attorneys.

Appalling, isn't it?

Richard Ugelow, a former supervisor in the Civil Rights Division, said of this administration's record:

"What's different now is a lack of commitment to the African-American community."

and

"We would sue employers for having numbers like that."

According to the report, Rep. Conyers is planning to use this local TV station's findings as the basis for a lot of his questions when he gets his turn at grilling Alberto Gonzales.

The details of this report are really outrageous. But what's the real kicker? With numbers like these (i.e., 2 minority attorneys out of 50 total), the DOJ touts the Civil Rights division as the most diverse division in the DOJ. Hard to believe, but true.

I encourage everyone to watch or read this shocking report.

Also, there is this referential report from politico.com.

Stay vigilant, everyone. The way business is being done at DOJ currently is abominable, and we must continue to work to clean up this mess.