Forbidden Political Hiring System Won’t Cost Immigration Judges Their Jobs

Executive Branch

Forbidden Political Hiring System Won’t Cost Immigration Judges Their Jobs

Posted Jul 30, 2008, 04:55 pm CST
By Martha Neil

When Garry Malphrus decided he wanted to be a federal immigration judge, no application or interview was required. Having worked in the White House and with D. Kyle Sampson, who was then a counselor to John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general, Malphrus was reportedly routed into the job via an appointments pipeline that considered applicants' political views.

The Justice Department isn't supposed to take applicants' politics into account when hiring for career positions, but it did during the Bush administration, according to a DOJ inspector general report released Monday. Now it appears that such appointments, which likely were illegal, won't be reversed, reports ABC News.

"There is no accountability," says professor Nancy Morawetz of New York University School of Law. "The net effect is that the people still on the bench are people appointed through an improper process."

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Report Finds Politics Influenced Hiring of DOJ Officials, Immigration Judges"

ABAJournal.com: "New Theory Why US Attorneys Were Axed: Perceived Sexual Orientation?"

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