Cameron can add another scandal to the already long list he provided in his last post about the Department of Justice. According to a study done by the Washington Post, the “Bush administration increasingly emphasized partisan political ties over expertise in recent years in selecting the judges who decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, despite laws that preclude such considerations.”
Yup, just when you thought Alberto Gonzales’ fiefdom couldn’t get any more screwed up, they pull this out of a hat. Turns out half of the judges the Department of Justice appointed to the immigration bench lack any sort of qualifications, and one-third are clear GOP apparatchiks. One is the former treasurer of the Louisiana Republican Party, one was a participant in the “Brooks Brothers riot” that stalled the recount in Florida, and one is a former White House domestic policy adviser and anti-porn crusader. Hardly the qualities one hopes for in judges that have to interpret the nation’s voluminous and often incredibly detailed immigration laws.
The judges are appointed indefinitely, and combine to deport nearly a quarter million immigrants a year. Think of the damage these folks could do. Just another example of how the Bush Administration has turned the federal government into a bastion of conservatism, ignoring qualifications, expertise, and long-accepted hiring rules in the process.
