Ex-San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam challenged the Justice Department two years ago over why a young accomplished lawyer seeking a prestigious post was dropped. A new report finds the department used politics rather than merit in recruitment hiring. KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma has more.
In October 2006, Lam sent an e-mail to the deputy attorney general's chief of staff Michael Elston. Lam asked why a candidate for the Justice Department's Honor's Program had been rejected. The woman was a top student from Stanford Law School. Elston replied that candidates were turned away for poor grades though that wasn't the issue in this case. He also told Lam he didn't think an appeal would be successful. Lam asked if other screeners had seen something in the snubbed applicant that she had not. Elston replied, "Not that I know of Carol."
Lam later told the Office of Inspector's General she suspected the applicant was dropped because she had clerked for a judge who was a Clinton appointee or because she had written an article on gender discrimination in the military. Lam was fired two months later, the justice department says, because she didn't prosecute enough immigration and gun cases.
Amita Sharma, KPBS News.
