TCRP WAS PLACED ON U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S “N0-HIRE” LIST

Press Release

TCRP CALLS IT UNFAIR, POLITICAL BIAS, AND PENALIZES PRO BONO LAW STUDENTS

The Texas Civil Rights Project appeared on the “hit list” of excluded organizations recently revealed by the Inspector General’s study of partisan, politically-motivated hiring in the federal Justice Department. An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program (June 24, 2008) http://media.npr.org/documents/2008/jun/doj_hiring.pdf

Anyone who ever worked with TCRP, whether as a volunteer, law student, or paralegal, was barred from DOJ employment.

TCRP Director Jim Harrington called this “… one of the most reprehensible things imaginable. It essentially penalizes any law student who comes to volunteer with us. We have about 20 students every year who generously give their time to help us help people. Examples of the some of the work they do include handling cases for people with disabilities, helping abused immigrant women get status in this country under VAWA, assisting farm workers collect minimum wages, and so on. Why should their careers be penalized because of their personal generosity and sacrifice? In prior Administrations, both Republican and Democratic, DOJ has hired students who have worked with TCRP, but that was when people were hired on merit. That has not been the case with this Administration. One would think that DOJ would want to hire students or lawyers who have done community work. It’s especially reprehensible when this kind of systemic political discrimination occurs in the very federal agency charged with enforcing fair and impartial justice throughout the country.”

For further information, please contact Jim Harrington at 512.474.5073 (x.108).