When a comprehensive history of the Bush administration's stewardship at the Justice Department is written, its ideology-based hiring practices will stand out as one of its most shameful legacies.

A joint report by the department's inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility said two high-ranking Bush appointees rejected scores of applicants to the honors and summer intern programs based on their political affiliations.

Lawyers with liberal and moderate political leanings were rejected at three times the rate of those with conservative credentials. It shocks the conscience that a nation can be denied the service of so many of its best and brightest because the Democratic Party label or work with the "wrong" advocacy groups appeared on their resumes.

According to the report, listing Democratic allies like the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the NAACP, environmental action groups, the ACLU or various women's organizations was enough to disqualify an applicant for consideration.

The hiring practices of former Justice employees Esther Slater McDonald and her boss Michael Elston were specifically singled out in the report for violating department policy and the Civil Service Reform Act. Ms. McDonald and Mr. Elston were blamed for transforming the merit-based honors and interns program into a backwater of partisan hackery.

Although the report does not specifically finger former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for blame, it is clear that he was a politicizing role model for his minions. His successor, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, has taken steps to reverse the excesses of Mr. Gonzales' tenure by making the program slots non-partisan once again.

For nearly eight years, the Bush administration rarely missed an opportunity to complain about "activist" judges. Meanwhile, it was busy packing the Justice Department with activists who shared its own political bent. Is there no end to the hypocrisy?