Among the Bush-era Justice Department practices most appalling to Democratic and even some Republican lawmakers was the blatant politicization of the Justice Department under then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Monica Goodling.
Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Monica Goodling, a Bush-era Justice Department official, was fond of trying to determine job applicants' political views and has drawn a lawsuit against the department by some rejected job seekers.

It's pretty well established that under Gonzales job applicants were asked whether they were Republicans and conservatives. Those not deemed sufficiently on board weren't hired.

Some rejected applicants filed lawsuits. On Thursday, a federal district judge ruled that some of the plaintiffs could sue while others couldn't.

As NPR's Ari Shapiro reported for the network's newscast:

An investigation found that people asked job applicants questions like: Why are you a Republican? Or, What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?
Liberals applicants were rejected; conservatives were hired.

Eight rejected job applicants filed a lawsuit.

Now a judge says only three of the applicants have grounds to sue.

U.S. District Judge John Bates also says they cannot sue former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his chief counsel Monica Goodling, or other officials in their personal capacity.

Instead, the lawsuit will proceed against the Justice Department itself.

 

Ari tells me Judge Bates decided that the five applicants weren't far enough along in the application process to qualify to sue.

And Ari pointed out to me an example from the Justice Department inspector general's report contained some fairly head-slapping examples of how bad the situation got at the Justice Department. In the example, Goodling was trying to assess a candidate's political views.

From page 9 of the IG's report:

For example, one candidate reported that after he stated he admired Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Goodling "frowned" and commented, "but she's pro-choice."

So it wasn't even about being a Republican. To pass Goodling's test, you had to be the right kind of Republican.