This is on the front page of Crooks & Liars and I don't see a diary about it in the most recent diaries list. If this is repetitive, I apologize.
Pelosi's Website, The Gavel, has made public, a letter sent from "A Group of Concerned Department of Justice Employees" about the politicalization non-political positions traditionally held by "career employees."
The letter outlines the recruiting process for both the Attorney General’s Honors Program and the Summer Law Intern Program (SLIP).
After choosing potential candidates to interview, the division personnel forwarded their lists to the Office of Attorney Recruitment Management for what was traditionally final approval. This is no longer a final step, however, because the list had to go higher - to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. When the list of potential interviewees was returned this year, it had been cut dramatically.
The Gavel explains that
The letter then goes on to describe confusion and consternation within the divisions, and ultimately a meeting that was demanded by staff, in which Michael Ellston, Chief of Staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, "was offensive to the point of insulting" in addressing the concerns. (Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty has also testified regarding the firings of the US Attorneys.) Ellston attributed the removals from the interviewee lists to "spelling errors" and other such technical problems. The letter continues from there:
When division personnel staff later compared the remaining interviewees with the candidates struck form the list, one common denominator appeared repeatedly: most of those struck form the list had interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a "liberal" cause, or otherwise appeared to have "liberal" leanings. Summa cum laude graduates of both Yale and Harvard were rejected for interviews.
The letter concludes by asserting that
While the current political appointees repeatedly remind everyone that the U.S. Attorneys "serve at the pleasure of the President," the Department’s career attorneys serve the people of the United States. We hope you will see fit to include this politicizing of the career ranks in your questioning of Attorney General Gonzales and his staff.
I am personally very disturbed (but not at all surprised) by this letter. You can read the letter in its entiretly by downloading the pdf here.
Here's an example of why their standards don't even achieve what they want, i.e., weeding out people who are too liberal and not lock-step with GWB. There is a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals named Douglass Ginsburg (no relation to Justice Ginsburg) who is an ultra conservative judge and was considered by Reagan after Bork but prior to appointing Justice Kennedy. He clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. 'Nuf Said.