The head of the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division convened a section meeting yesterday and announced that she will be stepping down, according to Above the Law. Cutlar told those in attendance that she had lost the confidence of Attorney General Eric Holder and the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez, the Web site said.
Shanetta Cutlar (DOJ)
Shanetta Cutlar is moving over to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, which is part of the Office of Justice Programs, a DOJ spokesman confirmed to Main Justice.
The Civil Rights Division has not yet chosen someone to take Cutlar’s place in either an acting or permanent role.
Cutlar was quoted several times in the final report of a joint Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General investigation into alleged politicized hiring during the Bush administration. Cutlar told investigators that that former Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Alex Acosta once said that Bradley Schlozman was in charge of hiring. Cutlar also said Schlozman discussed with her the allegations of partisan hiring in the division. He allegedly told her that he had “made some mistakes” in regards to political hiring.
One lawyer Ty Clevenger, who was allegedly hired over the objections of Cutlar because of his conservative political background, sued Cutlar and the Justice Department over allegations about her treatment of lawyers in the section.
Clevenger’s lawsuit alleged that Cutlar had a love-hate relationship with Schlozman “in which Mr. Schlozman granted Defendant Cutlar more latitude to run the Special Litigation Section in exchange for Defendant Cutlar carrying out his political orders.”
This article has been updated.
