Politics guided Justice hiring; First female four-star

last updated 8 January 2015

Politics guided Justice hiring

Justice Department officials violated civil-service law by using partisan litmus tests to recruit lawyers, the department’s inspector general said this week. A report by Inspector General Glenn Fine and the department’s ethics office concluded that senior department officials routinely rejected well-qualified entry-level applicants whose résumés suggested a liberal political orientation, in favor of recruits with conservative credentials. Federal law bars taking ideology into account when hiring career employees, though it’s permitted for political appointees.

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Ann Dunwoody was nominated as the nation’s first female four-star general, when President Bush tapped her to head the command responsible for keeping the Army supplied. Dunwoody, a 33-year military veteran, made her name running various logistics operations for the Army. Service regulations ordinarily require four-star nominees to have combat experience, but the requirement was waived for Dunwoody. Her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were career military officers, as are her brother, sister, and husband.

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