PJ Media’s DOJ FOIA Request Comes Back … Redacted
It only took nearly twelve months and the filing of a federal lawsuit, but the U.S. Department of Justice finally has responded to PJ Media’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by turning over the resumes of the approximately 130 attorneys hired into the Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration.
But in what has become an all too familiar pattern with this administration, particularly at the Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s direction, the documents are subtly but importantly redacted. They reflect what must have been a detailed effort by the Civil Rights Division’s political leadership to sanitize the resumes of activities and affiliations that might prove how radical the newly hired attorneys really are and just how hypocritical was the Left’s earlier criticism of the Bush administration’s hiring practices.
The white-outs are selective. While certain activities and group memberships remain, it appears that only liberal affiliations have been redacted. A quick Google search, however, has revealed to us in numerous cases that the “most transparent administration in history” was likely trying to hide.
Ironically enough, the New York Times and the National Law Journal recently submitted similar FOIA requests and were provided the same documents as PJ Media. It will be interesting to see if they focus on the omissions.
The liberal media would never stand for redacted disclosures from a Republican administration. Whether these media giants register any complaints or, as is more likely, simply turn a blind eye to the ideologically monolithic hiring standard, it will be amusing to watch.
Even with the redactions, the left liberal tilt of the resumes is impressive. The documents reveal a rogue’s gallery of militant civil rights lawyers, a topic on which PJ Media will be elaborating at length in the coming weeks and months. There are so many aggressive attorneys who previously worked at the ACLU, NAACP, Legal Aid, or at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights that it is a wonder these organizations have anyone left on their staffs.
Meanwhile, whereas the Bush Civil Rights Division hired scores of liberal attorneys into its ranks, nary a single conservative has been hired since Obama was inaugurated. Talk about a litmus test! Indeed, the Obama administration appears to have engaged in packing the Department with partisans — and that it is worse than anything the Bush administration was alleged to have done. These resumes should have been accompanied by a giant apology to the Bush Justice Department.
In some ways, it is odd that Holder’s team in the Civil Rights Division even felt it necessary to make conspicuous deletions in the resumes. After all, Holder proudly told the liberal American Constitution Society in June 2008 that the Obama administration was “going to be looking for people who share our values.” As if there was any doubt as to what he meant, he emphasized that “a substantial number of those people would probably be members of the American Constitution Society.” Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez has likewise spoken regularly to left-leaning civil rights organizations and encouraged their members to apply for career civil service positions in the Civil Rights Division.
So why the secrecy? Applicants were sufficiently proud of their affiliations and interests that they happily advertised them on their resumes that were submitted to the federal government for a public job. Such robust boasts undermine any plausible claim of chilled activity. In any event, in an era where virtually every non-privileged email is discoverable, there is no possible reasonable expectation of privacy in these redacted federal records, especially under the rigid requirements of FOIA.
Bear in mind that when in 2006 the Boston Globe requested the resumes of attorneys hired into the Bush administration, the only items deleted were individuals’ home addresses and telephone numbers. Nothing else. This allowed the media to blather on about the sheer audacity of a Republican administration to hire individuals associated with such groups as — horror of horrors! — the Federalist Society for career positions in the Civil Rights Division. The hypocrisy of this administration in undertaking trying to hide the same type of information is palpable.
One thing that is clear, however, is that PJ Media will not allow the Civil Rights Division to get away with its attempted deception without a fight. A FOIA lawsuit still is pending in federal court. Perhaps others, including the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, will join in this battle as well.
Expect to read much more about this subject in the near future.
Obviously, this is to put more of “my people” on the dole, er, payroll. The government suffers from a dearth pf lefty lawyers dont’cha know.
Political cronyism and pinstripe patronage is only part of the story. The rest of it is “the long march through the institutions” made infamous by Antonio Gramsci.
Given the extraordinary criticism the media and congressional Democrats heaped on Republicans during the Bush Administration for supposedly imposing an ideological litmus test, this story ought to become a real scandal for the Holder Justice Department. I suspect, though, that the media will simply give the Democrats a pass. That’s a real tragedy.
Undeniable media collaboration with left leaning political organizations exposes their profit base to the erosion from purchase denial of all goods and services advertised there in. Consumers can be in control of media content totally without litigation or oversight by a bolder holder DOJ by applying RAP (reverse advertising psychology) forcing them into increased big money support base melded in a NWO scheme. When one knows and recognizes their enemy’s goal, any functionally effective offense within one’s domain must logically be deployed.
There are none better than those having no possible defense and increased public exposure of all concerned. The hardest part will be listening to the agenda between ads.
The next attorney general need to clean house and the redaction need to be a feature of this effort. The best way to do this is through defunding by the Congress after appointing J. Christian Adams as Chief of the Division. The principle of last hired, first fired will fix most of the problems.
Good, good work. Holder needs to be fired.
This story needs to get out.
yes James he needs to be fired. he also needs to be prosecuted for failure to cary out his duties in a fair and impartial manner.upon conviction he should be fined a million dollars given 20 years and one day at hard labor and dissbarred.
I would like to see Holder loose his license and go to jail. This adminstration is nothing more then the most racist in our history. Obama woke me up to the socialist movement in this country …Holder woke me up to the racism that so many blacks still have.
Yeah. I mean previous presidents may have tolerated slavery and lynchings, ethnically cleansed native Americans and put Japanese Americans in concentration camps, but Obama said something mean about the actions of a single white police officer. That makes him worse than Hitler and stuff.
…and stuff. (????) My nineth graders have stopped saying that by the end of the year…of course they’re closing in on 16!
Be gentle. This could have been written by a 4th grader……
I put an onion to my eyes and pretended it wasn’t the 21st century to try and see things through the eyes of a decontextualizing moron.
Apparently I have no tear ducts.
Civil liberties lawyers get hired by agency dedicated to promoting civil liberties.
News at 11.
“Civil liberties lawyers get hired by agency dedicated to promoting civil liberties.”
Different people have different ideas on what constitutes “civil liberties”. For example, freedom of association is a civil liberty. Which of the ultra-left-wing lawyers hired by Holder believes in freedom of association?
All of them.
ROFLMAO
Only if you’re using “civil liberties” in an Orwellian sense.
meaning what exactly?
Malik Shabazz Does C-Span October 31, 2001: A Fascinating Look at Brian Lamb’s Moral Compass
Link: http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/malik-shabazz-does-c-span-october-31.html
Another nail in the coffin to vote these socialist frauds, including obama, out of office in 2012. When we complete the sweep and boot these anti american commies out on their rear ends we must not forget the send out as many pinko slips as it takes to send these rats back to whatever hole they came out of.
“Meanwhile, whereas the Bush Civil Rights Division hired scores of liberal attorneys into its ranks . . .”
***WHY***??????
(Would you believe “WTF”?)
Must the G.O.P. be the Stoopid Party FOREVER??
What’s ^wrong^ with these people???
.
What’s wrong with them? Nothing, really… and that’s the problem.
They are not supposed to have a litmus test. They play fair. That’s why they are the Stupid Party. They get into power, and they hire all persuasions. The Left gets into power, and they hire all Leftists. So, over time, our government is dominated by Leftists.
The laws are only for the Right, not the Left. It is inequitable. The Left simply cheats. You can try to hold them accountable, but after years of effort, you maybe get a few fired, or rarely one jailed, but the Hive has far more to replace those few who fall. Or, we can cheat too, and become like them. These are not good options, either, so we continue to play fair.
That’s about it in a nutshell.
Nuts!. They are the Enemy and need to be treated like an enemy. In the future all leftists are to be treated as enemies of the Republic.
That is the most retarded statement. How did you get the world so backwards? Under Bush’s justice department, political appointees were hiring people based solely upon whether or not prospective attorneys were Republicans. If they were Democrats they were rejected. Under Obama, the hiring is back to being at arms length from the administration and they are hired based on having experience in the appropriate field. Why exactly is it scandalous that lawyers who have experience working in the field of civil rights would be hired by the civil rights division of the justice department? If it turns out that the majority are left leaning politically, that probably has something to do with the fact that right wingers aren’t interested in the field of civil rights and would rather be in corporate law.
Hey Moron,
Get your facts straight, Under Bush, 40% hired were conservative, 60% were liberal, why because of the liberals background in civil rights..
You morons are totally indoctrinated, you all probably think Pol Pot was a patriot… Go troll somewhere else
Mark my words: This is the only place you will read about this.
What do these people DO all day? This appears to be the first area that could / should be eliminated to save money. Given the mischief these bureaucrats tend to cause the country would also get some welcome relief. 130 new “attorneys?” Give me a break!
We do not have a DOJ anymore in the US, the only ones that have to obey the law are the hard working Americans. The poor does not have to obey the law because they had i9t so hard in life or maybe they need free medical. The rich do not have to obey the law they just buy a cop,judge or a politician! What the h-ll is freedom!