Will the Department of Justice become the "Holy Inquisition"? I also
wonder what role this played in the recent dismissal of the eight US
attorneys last year.
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Is the Justice Department Improperly Ruled by Religion?
By DonByrd Thu Jun 14, 2007 at 03:15:28 PM EST
Back in February, I wrote about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' new
initiative. The First Freedom Project instructs the Civil Rights
Division to focus attention on cases involving religious discrimination,
even adding a new special counsel position in that area. Luckily for
America, the problem of race discrimination has been completely
eradicated, so the Justice Department has extra time and resources to
make sure church groups can send religious flyers and crucifixion-themed
candy canes home to public school kids. Or, as Becket Fund founder Kevin
Hasson authoritatively said, causing me to choke on my Fruit Loops this
morning, "We can now deal with the problems of racism more effectively
on a more local level. . . . "
I had no idea...
Apparently the Bush Administration agrees with him. According to a
NYTimes report today, the Justice Department has "reshape(d) its civil
rights mission" under Ashcroft and Gonzales. Read on...
Link
In recent years, the Bush administration has recast the federal
government's role in civil rights by aggressively pursuing
religion-oriented cases while significantly diminishing its involvement
in the traditional area of race.
...
"Not until recently has anyone in the department considered
religious discrimination such a high priority," Professor Landsberg said.
...
Along with its changed civil rights mission, the department has also
tried to overhaul the roster of government lawyers who deal with civil
rights. The agency has transferred or demoted some experienced civil
rights litigators while bringing in lawyers, including graduates of
religious-affiliated law schools and some people vocal about their
faith, who favor the new priorities. That has created some unease, with
some career lawyers disdainfully referring to the newcomers as "holy
hires."
Don't get me wrong - religious discrimination should be rooted out, and
should be a part of the equation in prioritizing Justice Department
resources. Our religious liberty protections are precious and we must
defend them for everyone if they are to mean something for anyone.
But there should be no religious test for government service. Being a
conservative Christian should neither qualify nor disqualify you from a
position in the Justice Department, but it sounds like it's playing an
all-too-important role in hiring and firing decisions.
Mr. Ashcroft arranged for the agency's senior political appointees
to take over the decades-old system used to hire recent law school
graduates for entry-level career jobs that are supposed to be
nonpartisan.
...
Figures provided by the department show that from 2003 through 2006,
there was a notable increase of hirings from religious-affiliated
institutions like Regent University and Ave Maria University. The
department hired eight from those two schools in that period, compared
to 50 from Harvard and 13 from Yale.
Several career lawyers said that some political appointees favored
the religious-oriented employees, intervening to steer $1,000 to $4,000
annual merit bonuses to them.
Ms. Oliveri and several other law professors said placement officers
and faculty at their schools found that graduates seeking work at the
Justice Department had a better chance by cleansing their résumés of
liberal affiliations while emphasizing ties to the Federalist Society, a
Washington conservative group, or membership in a religious fellowship.
A religious perspective should play no role in hiring attorneys for the
Justice Department, and it really should have no role in determining
which cases are pursued and which cases aren't. Combating religious
discrimination should surely play a part in our administration of
justice, but it's only one piece of the discrimination puzzle.
Full discussion: story/2007/6/14/151528/572
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http://tinyurl.com/2kdvlr
--
John #1782
"We should always be disposed to believe that which appears to us to be
white is really black, if the hierarchy of the church so decides."
- Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Founder of the Jesuit Order.
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