Former DOJ Officials Dismissed From Misconduct Suit (Gonzales, Goodling, Elston, McDonald)

[maddezmom]

Former DOJ Officials Dismissed From Misconduct Suit
A federal judge in Washington today dismissed in large part a suit against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other ex-Justice Department officials that alleged they improperly vetted candidates for the department's summer intern and honors programs.

Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said only three of the eight plaintiffs—all of them unsuccessful applicants for employment with the Justice Department—have standing to pursue claims against the department. The five dismissed plaintiffs never reached the step in the hiring process where the violations allegedly occurred, Bates said. Click here for the opinion.

The judge dismissed each of the individual defendants, including Gonzales, Monica Goodling, Michael Elston and Esther McDonald. Gonzales’ lawyers at Washington’s Schertler & Onorato, including Vincent Cohen Jr., were not immediately reached for comment this evening. Cohen argued for Gonzales a motions hearing in August.

Lead plaintiff Sean Gerlich had sued in June 2008, less than a week after the first joint report from the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and its Office of the Inspector General documented the politicization of hiring for the summer intern and honors programs. That report, which provides the foundation for the suit, said that McDonald and Elston took political and ideological affiliations into account in reviewing candidates for the programs.

more:http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/09/former-doj-of...