It is illegal to ask someone his race during the hiring process. It is illegal to ask someone about his age. It is illegal to ask about gender. And it is illegal to ask about religion. Indeed, it is even illegal to ask about political affiliation if the position is not a political appointment. Yeah, even at Justice. Evidently, in the hiring of career prosecutors at the Justice Department, Monica Goodling did not ask about age, gender, race or religion. But, according to the New York Times, she may get in trouble for what she did ask.

The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into whether a former senior adviser to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales improperly tried to fill vacancies for career prosecutors at the agency with Republicans loyal to the Bush administration, department officials said Wednesday.

The inquiry focuses on whether the former adviser, Monica Goodling, sought to determine the political affiliations of job applicants before they were hired as prosecutors — potentially a violation of civil service laws and a break with a tradition of nonpartisanship in the career ranks at the Justice Department.

Only a matter of time until this scandal spread further, eh? Now we know why Monica Goodling took the fifth.