Professional Responsibility --- everyone's doin' it

Even those at the top of the integrity ladder need to check the righteousness of their rungs now and then, just look at the DOJ.

Attorney General Mukasey told the ABA House of Delegates on August 12 that "Professionalism is alive and well at the Justice Department today." (Did I detect an emphasis on the word today?) He was heartily applauded.

AG Mukasey was referring to Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility joint reports that investigated DOJ hiring practices in and before 2007. The investigations demonstrated and the AG acknowledged that improper political considerations had been used in hiring immigration judges, AUSA hirings and prestigious legal internship programs, among a few other positions.

AG Mukasey then took the professional responsibility helm and let everyone know that much has changes including, inter alia, new hiring procedures and mandatory training. Now things have been righted and the AG assured the audience that "Politics must play no role either in the hiring of career employees or in the investigation and prosecution of cases." [more applause]

You can find a video of the speech at http://www.abavideonews.org/