A federal judge has thrown out most of the class action suit alleging the Bush-era Justice Department improperly rejected intern applicants, the Legal Times reports.
The suit was filed soon after a June 2008 report by the DOJ's Inspector General found that applicants for the department's intern and honors programs were wrongly -- and systematically -- screened based on political affiliations. One Harvard Law grad was declined because an article was found on the Internet in which he bemoaned his non-participation in the 1999 WTO protests.
Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that five of the eight plaintiffs did not have standing because they had not reached the point in the hiring process at which the improper screening came into play.
And he tossed the parts of the suit seeking money damages against individual defendants, including Alberto Gonzales and several other Bush DOJ officials.
The three remaining plaintiffs will be allowed to pursue their claims under the Privacy Act that information about them was improperly collected.
The full opinion is here (.pdf).

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The Decider
September 17, 2009 11:23 AM
I knew we should have started the improper screening at a lower level in the process. Who knows how many liberals got through!
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Matt Jones
September 17, 2009 12:25 PM
How is this *not* sufficient to get somebody into jail? We spent years and piles of $$$ investigating a president's sexual escapades, and THIS doesn't merit any attention?
I wanna see Gonzo in an orange jumpsuit muttering "I don't recall" over and over...
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rootless
September 17, 2009 12:29 PM
Judge Bates - a Federalist, a former Whitewater prosecutor, a Cheney protector.
http://blog.buzzflash.com/editorblog/021
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johnnydoughey
September 17, 2009 12:33 PM
justice for commoners is different than justice for important folks who are too important to treat equally...
That's why torturing is okay if you are important... but not if you happen to belong to a lower class...
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trblmkr
September 17, 2009 12:50 PM
Master Bates prevaricates, for his next promotion waits.
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