Free Republic

New York (AP) -- No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday. Mukasey used his sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales. But, he told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only...

Internal investigation concludes that former attorney general aides Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson broke department policies and federal civil-service laws. Former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, was singled out for violating federal law and Justice Department policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren't Republican or conservative loyalistsWASHINGTON -- Top aides to former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales employed a political and ideological litmus test to weed out candidates for career and other positions at the Justice Department, an internal department report concluded Monday. The audit by the department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that...

In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank strikes a blow for objective journalism in his "Taking One for the Team, When He Could Remember." Kyle Sampson, former aide to Attorney General Gonzales, testified Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cutting to what genuinely matters, Milbank writes: "Sampson was indeed a bit pudgy and jowly, and he spoke in a nerdy voice that sounded strange coming from a man whose combative e-mails had been released by the Justice Department in recent weeks." This isn't the first time Milbank felt the urge to call a Republican a nerd. He said U.S. Supreme Court...

FROM THE SENATE Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) chairs a Judiciary Cmte. hearing on the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys. D. Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, appears and is expected to testify that he did nothing wrong in coordinating the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. THURS., C-SPAN3, 10AM ET - Click link to watch FIRING ATTYS. WEBPAGE