Posted by Orin Kerr:
Sampson and Goodling Had Total Control of DOJ Political Hiring:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_04_29-2007_05_05.shtml#1177971364
The [1]National Journal has a fascinating story about the hiring and
firing of political appointees at DOJ that may help explain the
context of the U.S. Attorney "purge" story:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential
order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides -- who have
since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of
eight U.S. attorneys -- extraordinary authority over the hiring and
firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice
Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department
records related to the conception and implementation of the order
were provided to National Journal.
In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D.
Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison "the authority, with the
approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters
pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and
general administration" of virtually all non-civil-service
employees of the Justice Department, including all of the
department's political appointees who do not require Senate
confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April
2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order. . . .
A senior executive branch official familiar with the delegation of
authority said in an interview that -- as was the case with the
firings of the U.S. attorneys and the selection of their
replacements -- the two aides intended to work closely with White
House political aides and the White House counsel's office in
deciding which senior Justice Department officials to dismiss and
whom to appoint to their posts. "It was an attempt to make the
department more responsive to the political side of the White House
and to do it in such a way that people would not know it was going
on," the official said.
An original draft of Gonzales's delegation of authority to Sampson
and Goodling was so broad that it did not even require the two
aides to obtain the final approval of the attorney general before
moving to dismiss other department officials, according to records
obtained by National Journal. . . .
The department's Office of Legal Counsel feared that such an
unconditional delegation of authority was unconstitutional, the
documents show. As a result, the original delegation was rewritten
so that in its final form the order required "any proposed
appointments or removals of personnel" be "presented to the
Attorney General... for approval, and each appointment or removal
shall be made in the name of the Attorney General."
The senior administration official who had firsthand knowledge of
the plan said that Gonzales and other Justice officials had a
"clear obligation" to disclose the plan's existence to the House
and Senate Judiciary committees -- but the official said that, as
far as he knew, they had not done so.
Remarkable. And assuming this story checks out, it certainly
explains why Gonzales seemed so clueless about the U.S. Attorney
firings. It seems that Gonzales had taken himself completely out of
the loop of all DOJ political appointee hiring. He had delegated that
role completely to two 30-somethings, Kyle Sampson and Monica
Goodling; his only role was a formality, required just so that OLC
would find the practice constitutional.
References
1. http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070430nj1.htm
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