No Charges for Biased Justice Officials: Mukasey

Michael Mukasey said today the ex-Justice Department employees who discriminated against candidates in hiring for political reasons will not face criminal charges, the New York Times reports. Prosecution would be inappropriate, the AG said, because the biased hiring practices violated federal civil service law, not criminal law.

“Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime,” he said, adding that the aides at the center of the scandal escaped unscathed. "The officials most directly implicated in the misconduct left the department to the accompaniment of substantial negative publicity.” The AG rejected the idea of reassigning lawyers rejected by the biased employees, or firing those who benefited: “Two wrongs do not make a right,” he said.