Rejected Job Applicant Sues DOJ for Political Hiring
A former applicant for the Justice Department’s honors program has filed a suit that contends his First Amendment rights were violated when he was denied a job because of his liberal affiliations.
The plaintiff, Sean Gerlich, had received good marks as a Justice Department intern and believed his first job after law school would be with the department, his lawyer, Daniel Metcalfe, told Legal Times. Metcalfe worked at the Justice Department for more than 35 years and is now a law professor at American University, the story says.
The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
A report released last week found that political appointees in the Justice Department focused on hiring conservative lawyers and eschewed liberals in the honors program. The hiring effort began in 2002 and continued for five years.
The report said a screening committee rejected applicants affiliated with Democratic or liberal causes at a much higher rate than those with Republican, conservative or politically neutral backgrounds. In 2006, for example, the report found that those with liberal affiliations were more than three times as likely to be rejected than those with conservative backgrounds.
