A joint investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility found that DOJ officials violated civil service laws by using political or ideological factors when determining whom to hire.
Referring to these investigations, Attorney General Michael Mukasey told delegates to the American Bar Association that, “Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws. Professionalism is alive and well at the Justice Department.”
Two agencies in his own department have told him that hiring discrimination is in violation of the law and Mukasey tries to spin it by saying that violation of the law is not a crime.
To be generous and exclude the accusation of outright lying, due to Mukasey’s ignorance of the rules of logic and rhetoric he has condemned himself, in his own words, as a criminal.
First he says that not every violation of the law is a crime, then in glaring contradiction, he says that “only” violations of the civil service laws were found. He brushes aside the civil service law as insignificant, without realizing that they are also the law that determines what is a crime. Mukasey mistakenly thinks he can pick and chose among the laws and mistakenly thinks that a violation of the law is not a violation of the law for his fellow Republicans.
Then, he holds up his logical contradiction and says that this is “professionalism.” Yes, it is. It is professional, conservative, cover-your-ass Republicanism.
Let’s take a look at what the law that Mukasey so cavalierly dismisses actually is.
The definition of “crime” by:
The Oxford English Dictionary: an act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare.
Webster’s Third International Unabridged Dictionary: an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law of a sovereign state to the injury of the public welfare and makes the offender liable to punishment.
Black’s Law Dictionary: to denote such offenses as are of a deeper and more atrocious dye. Any act done in violation of those duties which an individual owes to the community.
Those are the definitions of what a crime is. They are clear and need no elaboration. They make very clear that the violation of the law is a crime. Mukasey admitted in his statement that there were violations of the law, and even though he describes that law as “only“ civil service law, it is still the law. According to Mukasey, these laws don’t apply as a crime when committed by Republicans. Mukasey is a Republican, appointed by the uber-Republican, George Bush who also dismisses the laws passed by Congress when they interfere with his Republican ideology.
Now, let’s look at what the law is:
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: It is illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment.
Civil Rights Act of 1991: Authorizes compensatory and punitive damages in cases of intentional discrimination, provides for obtaining attorneys’ fees and the possibility of jury trials.
The above acts were passed by Congress, the body authorized by the Constitution to make law. They are the law of the land. One of the requirements for a crime is that it be punishable by statute law. The 1991 Civil Rights act provides for punishment for discrimination, which is injurious to the general welfare, meeting the definition of a crime.
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