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Senior DoJ Official Resigns from Civil Rights Post
Yet another resignation from the Justice Department. Wan Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, announced today that he'll be leaving at the end of the month, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
Kim took the helm at the troubled Civil Rights Division in late 2005, just at the tail end of the stormiest period in the Division, when lawyers left the voting rights section, and other sections, in droves. Kim, like his predecessor, Alex Acosta, has never been anywhere near as controversial a figure as Division appointees Bradley Schlozman and Hans von Spakovsky, the two fingered by former Department lawyers as leading efforts to politicize the Division, the voting section in particular.
Nevertheless, the Division continued in the direction set by the prior Bush years under Kim's direction, often pursuing causes favored by conservatives (such as religious discrimination and human trafficking) to the detriment of the Division's traditional emphasis (such as protecting African-Americans from discrimination).
Kim follows a flurry of senior resignations in the past few months, including former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, his chief of staff Michael Elston, White House liaison Monica Goodling, chief of staff Kyle Sampson, Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer, and Schlozman, who had moved to a spot in the office that oversees U.S. attorneys.
The Department's release is below.
From the Justice Department:
Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, today announced his resignation, effective at the end of this month. President Bush nominated Mr. Kim to the position on June 16, 2005, and the Senate unanimously confirmed his appointment on November 4, 2005. Mr. Kim, whose career in the Department of Justice has spanned more than a decade, started in the Department of Justice Honors Program as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division, and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia.“For over a decade now, Wan Kim has served the Department of Justice and the American people with distinction and honor,” said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. “Starting as a young attorney in the Honors Program, Wan has worked his way up through the Department, and I will miss his honest opinions and valuable contributions as an advisor to me.”
During Mr. Kim’s tenure, the Civil Rights Division set record levels of enforcement in a broad range of areas, which included obtaining the highest number of criminal convictions in a single year in the past two decades; filing more than twice the average number of voting rights lawsuits in one year than were filed annually over the past 30 years; and filing as many lawsuits to challenge a pattern or practice of employment discrimination in one year as during the last three years of the previous Administration combined. Mr. Kim also supervised major initiatives in the areas of human trafficking prosecutions, housing discrimination, religious liberties and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other notable accomplishments include the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act in 2006; lawsuits against several financial institutions for discrimination in lending; the investigation and prosecution of cold cases from the Civil Rights Era; and numerous cases to protect the rights of persons in institutional facilities.
Comments (25)
hungrycoyote wrote on August 23, 2007 6:53 PM:Is there anybody left besides Gonzales?
Security code: Nail
As in, how many more nails in their coffin before Gonzales is gone?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on August 23, 2007 7:15 PM:That thar ship will be needin' ta take on ballast to keep from flippin' over cuzzin' all dem ratz jumpin' overboard.
EH wrote on August 23, 2007 7:18 PM:Obviously the Civil Rights Division is trying to tell us that Asians can't be trusted. Jokes aside, this is the first non-Whitey to leave, no? It's a departure from the Bush Administration's history of letting brown people take the fall for its mistakes.
chabuka wrote on August 23, 2007 7:33 PM:sure..resign and slink back under a rock...hoping to avoid accountability, indictments or prosecution... what am I saying...? With the spineless Dems at the helm...they will get away with it..
bp wrote on August 23, 2007 7:50 PM:Last one please turn off the lights. The security code is bent. Is there a message there?
theswan wrote on August 23, 2007 8:11 PM:Bailing (as in dirty water) from their honorary positions as defenders of justice. Six years of duty make them able to just walk away.
liz wrote on August 23, 2007 8:17 PM:It's not like the guy that put in a life time of honest effort to get to just retire with a family and friends.
These guys will go on protected and be drooled over for years to come.
America's been trashed by the likes of their arrogant attitude.
Maybe my ADA complaint caught up with Mr. Kim. Social Security is now in the business of refusing to honor their own court orders. After having one absolute catastrophe and honoring their programs with my very life, when I got sick again with my lifetime disability and illness , I got shafted. I was made to forfeit two years benefits and pay in the hearing in order to get re approved for disability.
low-tech cyclist (formerly RT) wrote on August 23, 2007 8:30 PM:All Ticket to Work programs and Voc Rehab programs should be closed coast to coast......
If you sacrifice your status just to work, so that you can lose everything you work for the SECOND time around, complete with loss of TWO disability income policies.
Then just try finding out how your Judge smoozes around with the Head of Unum/ Colonial disability companies and gives heavily to the Republicans at the helm of the state of SC
Gonzales through Kim should be forced out in no uncertain terms.
Yep more rights attempting to be unsurped in a South Carolina Social Security Disability hearing.
We should chase people wearing the scarlet R's out of the government.
You know what would really be cool (using a politics-nerd definition of 'cool' here)?
A DOJ org chart.
Well, two of them, actually: one as of the beginning of 2007, and a second one, kept up-to-date.
Wonder if Bush would appreciate the irony. (Probably not, but screw him.)
Bruno Hauptmann wrote on August 23, 2007 8:33 PM:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMenB9Ywh2Q
IceJustice wrote on August 23, 2007 9:17 PM:Kim's replacement will have to get past Pat Leahy. That will be an interesting hearing indeed, especially since Justice wouldn't let John Tanner, chief of the infamous Voting Section, testify. There will be some interesting questions...
regular lurker wrote on August 23, 2007 9:22 PM:Muckrakers...
You know what I would just love to see? A videotape of the party at AEI for the launch of Iraq war. They had a big send off, patting themselves on the back for a job well-done. If I remember correctly, it was a black tie gala.
Don't you want to see who sat with whom? Who said what? Who wishes they could hide the fact they were there?
I always picture it like one of those balls celebrating the start of the Crimean war.
JD21 wrote on August 23, 2007 11:38 PM:Hey Fox, us non-Republicans see that your "Fair and Balanced" network is a shill for billionaire media mogul Murdoch's conservative agenda. We're out. Have a nice life with yourself.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Fox_cancels_Democratic_presidential_debate_0823.html
helpknot wrote on August 24, 2007 12:46 AM:I smell a batch of recess appointments coming.
Peter Duffy wrote on August 24, 2007 6:53 AM:Come on, Josh, with the flow of DOJ exits turning into a flood, it is time to create a DOJ 'where are they now' monitor list.
These guys will stay in the woodwork until Bush departs.
slash wrote on August 24, 2007 8:42 AM:Anybody know of anything going on in the SF AG's office? I was just on the usajobs website and they had a bunch of postings for AG's in that office.
JEP wrote on August 24, 2007 8:56 AM:Renzi's resigning!
Running for cover.
Another White Elephant heads for the white elephant graveyard.
JEP wrote on August 24, 2007 9:02 AM:"I smell a batch of recess appointments coming."
Yeah, I caught a whiff of that stinky breeze, too.
Speaking of skunks, no telling who Bush will appoint, but they WILL have a stripe down their backs...
One good thing about the Bush administration, we can see now who the biggest skunks are, they have all been Bush admin employees.
The day will come when having that on your political job resume won't be the asset it was in the Monica Goodling days.
Somewhat OT: Anyone else think Warner could walk in right now and take the Republican nomination, hands down?
Monty Cantsin wrote on August 24, 2007 9:28 AM:Gosh, the caseload numbers in the Justice Department press release sound impressive, don't they?
Has anyone ever looked at those numbers to see if they are accurate?
TRAC has. The results are not encouraring:
http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/civright/115/
Michael wrote on August 24, 2007 10:26 AM:Good news on the recess appointments. I thought there would be a flood also, but the king and Reid made a deal before congress ajourned. Reid told the king that he would keep the senante in session until the expiration of the king's administration and prevent recess appointments unless the king agreed not to do any recess appointments. The king agreed. No recess appointments coming any time soon. Thank God.
Moondancer1 wrote on August 24, 2007 12:18 PM:More rats jumping ship.... Thomas A. Marino, the US Attorney responsible for Central and Northeastern PA also announced his resignation. A story in this morning's Scranton’s Morning Call suggests Marino’s departure is related to “an investigation of Mount Airy Lodge owner Louis DeNaples.” DeNaples listed Marino as a reference on a casino license application. Control over the investigation was moved from PA to the US Attorney’s office in Binghamton, NY.
Clavis wrote on August 24, 2007 1:02 PM:Gonzalez: "I will miss his honest opinions and valuable contributions as an advisor to me."
Adding, "He was essential in preparing me to say "I can't recall" and "I must recuse myself" during all those hearings. I don't know what I would've done without him. I think."
Dana Kincaid wrote on August 24, 2007 3:07 PM:Must be Friday, if there is a resignation.
Sharon wrote on August 24, 2007 9:26 PM:Michael posted:
I thought there would be a flood [of recess appointments] also, but the pResident and Reid made a deal before congress adjourned....
What I read was that Bush agreed to no more recess appointments and Reid agreed to get his 41 judicial nominees through. However, this was a comment in a blog and I have not been able to verify it. Anyone hear anything along these lines? Or is it troll um...offal?
lawman wrote on August 25, 2007 12:34 PM:By all reports, Wan Kim and Bradley Schlozman worked hand-in-glove, side-by-side and in cahoots during their time at the Civil Rights Division. They reportedly are good friends. Any investigator will need to consider their tight, close and supportive relationship when determining what went so very wrong at the Civil Rights Division.
CRD Vet wrote on August 26, 2007 8:49 AM:lawman: Not to let Wan Kim off the hook for continued problems at Civil Rights, but knowing Schlozman I strongly doubt he has ever had a friend, good or otherwise.