Partisanship v. Professionalism in the Justice Dept.
by TChris
Career lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division would have moved to block the Texas redistricting plan that provided Republicans with additional House seats in the last election, on the ground that the plan reduced minority voting strength in violation of the Voting Rights Act. A memo reveals that their concerns were overridden by a political appointee who was more concerned with assisting Republicans than enforcing civil rights laws.
Alberto Gonzales yesterday defended that decision-making process as a mere disagreement among professionals. Yet, as Last Night in Little Rock reported here, career professionals in that Division have been bailing out of their Justice Department jobs precisely because their commitment to enforcing civil rights laws is frequently undermined by “disagreement” with appointed officials who put politics first.
The redistricting approval came from Sheldon Bradshaw, an assistant to then-AG John Ashcroft.
Bradshaw, as a member of the Justice Department's legal counsel's office, had been an adviser to the Bush White House in 2001. Then he was appointed to the second-in-command spot in the civil rights division under Alex Acosta, who had helped Bush's 2000 presidential campaign in the Florida vote recount. Bradshaw took command of the Texas redistricting case when Acosta recused himself.
That politics trumped professionalism when Bradshaw made the call is evident.
J. Gerald Hebert, a lawyer who represented Texas Democratic congressmen in the legal battle surrounding redistricting, said the decision was nothing more than a partisan grab for power at the expense of minority voters in Texas. "It's a compelling story about why the Justice Department's process was corrupted," said Hebert.
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