Goodling Scandal Spotlights Christian Law School
Since President Bush took office in 2001, a Christian law school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson has had a lot of success placing graduates – including Monica Goodling – in government jobs.
Her resignation Friday as a top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, after refusing to testify before Congress about her role in the controversial firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, has spotlighted Regent University School of Law’s influence, reports the Boston Globe.
As Regent’s star ascended, “[c]onservative credentials rose” among recent Justice Department hires, “while prior experience in civil rights law and the average ranking of the law school attended by the applicant dropped,” the newspaper states, based on a review of resumes.
Based on an account in a Regent newsletter, the Globe recounts one applicant’s experience:
“[A] 2004 graduate described being interviewed for a job as a trial attorney at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in October 2003. Asked to name the Supreme Court decision from the past 20 years with which he most disagreed, he cited Lawrence v. Texas, the ruling striking down a law against sodomy because it violated gay people’s civil rights.
“‘When one of the interviewers agreed and said that decision in Lawrence was “maddening,” I knew I correctly answered the question,’ wrote the Regent graduate. The administration hired him for the Civil Rights Division’s housing section – the only employment offer he received after graduation, he said.”
