Conservatives favor affirmative action for conservatives.

Yes, the proof is in. The report of the Justice Department Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility concludes that for at least five years, two Bush appointed Attorneys General illegally applied ideological and political litmus tests to civil service hiring for intern and career attorney positions. Applications to the Justice Department's Honors Program, which seeks the best talent from top law schools, were scrutinized for telltale signs of liberal affiliation, such as "buzzwords" like "social justice," or volunteer work for organizations perceived to have liberal goals.

In spite of the fact that the purpose of the civil service system is to keep politics out of the hiring process, a former spokesperson for Attorney General John Ashcroft. quoted on NPR, justified the illegal practice as a long overdue attempt to create ideological diversity in the Justice Department! Given that candidates with perceived liberal affiliations or leanings were rejected at three times the rate of those believed to be conservative, that means that standards were lowered in order to accommodate a particular subset of applicants- just as conservatives bitterly complained affirmative action programs did in the sixties and seventies. This seems to be a tacit admission by the Bush Justice Department that conservatives are not as bright and academically accomplished as liberals. A former justice department official said the policy meant that Justice was hiring from the B list instead of the A list.

Is it any surprise that during this time the Justice Department did not seek racial and ethnic diversity in its hiring? Not a single black lawyer was hired in the Civil Rights Division between 2003 and 2007.

Update: The Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office issued a report concluding that aides to Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales illegally used partisan and ideological criteria to select less-qualified applicants for nonpolitical senior career positions, including immigration judges, assistant United States attorneys and counterterrorism positions. This discrimination slowed the hiring process at critical times and damaged the department’s credibility. Applicants' views on "God, guns and gays" were a key part of the screening.

More corruption in Bush's "Justice" Department.

Lost in the news about N.Y. Governor Spitzer's prostitution scandal was the Congressional hearing about how the Bush Justice Department lets corporations avoid criminal convictions for corruption or for violations of safety, financial or environmental regulations. In short, big companies that already have a very cozy relationship with the Republican Party can buy their way out by paying friends of the administration to monitor their future conduct. The arrangements have been made by U.S. Attorneys using no guidelines and under no bid contracts. Doesn't this sound like something you'd hear about in Russia or some corrupt developing nation?

One of the largest recipients of one of these deals was none other than former Attorney General John Ashcroft. He is being paid between 28 and 52 million dollars to monitor a medical supply company accused of engaging in kickbacks to increase its sales. You may remember Ashcroft as the chief supporter of the Patriot Act, which contained an unnoticed clause that was at the heart of the U.S. Attorney firings scandal. The government official who set up the no bid monitoring contract for Ashcroft? His former subordinate, Christopher J. Christie, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and a top fund raiser for George Bush in 2000. Christie is now being criticized for awarding a number of these monitoring deals to his friends and political allies.

There were three dozen of these deals done nationally last year. The day before Ashcroft's Congressional testimony, the Justice Department finally announced that it would that require these contracts (euphemistically called "nonprosecution") be approved by the Deputy Attorney General in the future. Now we can all sleep better.