The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Voting Section has been something of a mess for the past two administrations, with employees lobbing insults, racist remarks and other inappropriate communications at one another, according to an inspector general’s 299-page report (pdf).

DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz found “numerous and troubling examples of harassment and marginalization of employees and managers” between 2001 and 2011. The various personal attacks were made not only by members of the staff, but by voting rights lawyers as well.

Among the evidence uncovered were unprofessional emails and Internet postings, such as the one describing the neighborhood of a conservative Justice attorney as comparable to a place where “everyone wears a white sheet, the darkies say ‘yes’m’ and equal rights for all are the real ‘land of make believe.’”

The report also noted that “The highly offensive comments included suggestions that the parents of one former career Section attorney were Nazis, disparaging a career manager’s physical appearance and guessing how he/she would look without clothing, speculation that another career manager was watching pornography in her office.”

But the Voting Section—which enforces voting rights statutes as part of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division—did not make any enforcement decisions during the George W. Bush administration or the Obama administration that were based on race or partisan considerations, according to Horowitz. The report does say, however, that the distrust and polarization within the section did, in some cases, damage its ability to function.

The news of what went on within the section was nonetheless bad for Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, who is reportedly President Barack Obama’s choice for labor secretary.

In his current capacity, Perez has overseen the Voting Section, and details from the IG’s report could be used against him during confirmation hearings, if he is nominated.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Justice Department’s Voting Rights Section Hurt by Unprofessional Behavior, Report Says (by Sari Horwitz, Washington Post)

Report: Employees in Justice Dept. Section Polarized (by Terry Frieden, CNN)

A Review of the Operations of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division (U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General) (pdf)

Justice Department Infested with Anti-Civil Rights Bush Appointees (AllGov)