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Justice Department officials then began using the technique to search for key phrases or words in an applicant’s background, like “abortion,” “homosexual,” “Florida recount,” or “guns.”

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ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

-fr-

i'm just amazed the article even got published.

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ORIGINAL: kittinSol

Nice. I particularly loved this:

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Justice Department officials then began using the technique to search for key phrases or words in an applicant’s background, like “abortion,” “homosexual,” “Florida recount,” or “guns.”

We all know there's a certain level of nepotism and corruption, but at such a high level of the justice system? It's fucking terrifying. 'Scuse my French.

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

Communist? yadda, yadda. *yawn*

Firm

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ORIGINAL: Vendaval

Thank you for the link, cloudboy. 
 
Charges of perjury and potential loss of bar licenses sound good to me.

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ORIGINAL: cloudboy


Really, when did anyone under Clinton systemically politicize the Justice Department or fire attorneys for political reasons?

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The difference appears minor. Both McNulty and Sampson acknowledged that the Bush administration, like the Clinton administration, brought in a new slate of U.S. attorneys within a few months of taking office.
But historical data compiled by the Senate show the pattern going back to President Reagan.
Reagan replaced 89 of the 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office. President Clinton had 89 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years, and President Bush had 88 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years.

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ORIGINAL: Thadius

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ORIGINAL: cloudboy


Really, when did anyone under Clinton systemically politicize the Justice Department or fire attorneys for political reasons?

Well this answers the question about turning over the Justice Department. 

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The difference appears minor. Both McNulty and Sampson acknowledged that the Bush administration, like the Clinton administration, brought in a new slate of U.S. attorneys within a few months of taking office.
But historical data compiled by the Senate show the pattern going back to President Reagan.
Reagan replaced 89 of the 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office. President Clinton had 89 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years, and President Bush had 88 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years.

I won't comment on what Janet Reno did or didn't do in terms of investigations... that is all a matter of public record.

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Well this answers the question about turning over the Justice Department. 

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The difference appears minor. Both McNulty and Sampson acknowledged that the Bush administration, like the Clinton administration, brought in a new slate of U.S. attorneys within a few months of taking office.
But historical data compiled by the Senate show the pattern going back to President Reagan.
Reagan replaced 89 of the 93 U.S. attorneys in his first two years in office. President Clinton had 89 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years, and President Bush had 88 new U.S. attorneys in his first two years.

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What is at issue currently relates to the hiring practices used to screen career service positions- the very people who are supposed to provide long-term, apolitical continuity in departments like Justice. There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that the Clinton administration (or ANY presidential administration in recent memory) has ever even considered crossing this line before. This is not "business as usual"; it's farcical to represent it as such. It's also not a right-wing or left-wing issue. Rather, it is yet another example of this administration's basic and fundamental contempt for the rule of law. It is such a blatant example of political corruption that it reaches the level of caricature.

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ORIGINAL: hisannabelle

-fr-

i'm just amazed the article even got published.

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Excerpt from "Absolute Power"

In 1993, shortly after she was installed as attorney general, Janet Reno sent an unmistakable signal that her Justice Department would primarily serve the political ends of Bill Clinton rather than the ends of justice. At once, she fired all 93 of the country's United States attorneys. According to no less an authority than Ted Olson, President George Bush's chief postelection attorney, Reno's move was extreme and unprecedented. "In order to maintain continuity in thousands of pending prosecutions, and as a statement to the public that elections do not influence routine law enforcement, the nation's top prosecutors are traditionally replaced only after their successors have been located, appointed, and confirmed by the Senate. On instructions from the White House (she claimed it was a 'joint' decision; no one believes that), Reno ordered all 93 to leave in ten days. There could not have been a clearer signal that the Clinton campaign war room had taken over law enforcement in America."