Justice expands internal attorney probe

The Justice Department said Wednesday it has expanded its internal inquiry on the firing of U.S. attorneys into whether politics played a part in hiring career prosecutors.

In a rare note updating lawmakers on its investigation, the department said it also was looking into hiring practices within its Civil Rights division. Lawmakers have questioned whether the division has hired prosecutors with strong political resumes but little civil rights experience.

The expanded investigation was first reported earlier this month by The Associated Press.

The letter to the leaders of House and Senate Judiciary committees comes a week after the department's former White House aide, Monica Goodling, admitted that she "crossed the line" in considering job applicants' loyalty to the Republican Party before approving their hires. Doing so is illegal.

The short letter, signed by Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine and Office of Professional Responsibility counsel H. Marshall Jarrett, widens the probe into hiring practices in at least three areas, including:

_Those by Goodling and other Justice officials.

_The Civil Rights division.

_The department's honors programs and summer law intern positions.

Critics say the honors program, which has long been filled with graduates from Ivy League and other prestigious law schools, has been opened to applicants with mostly political credentials. However, Justice officials say the program's applicants are all reviewed by an outside committee before they are hired by the deputy attorney general's office.

Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Conyers of Michigan, the chairs of the Senate and House panels, respectively, said the allegations show the need for greater oversight at the Justice Department. And Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., called anew for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.

"As long as Mr. Gonzales remains attorney general, no internal probe is going to clear the air," Schumer said.