"Investigations" of Justice

The Justice Department announced yesterday that it was beginning an internal investigation into whether its hiring practices had been politicized by Monica Goodling:

WASHINGTON, May 2 — 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.

My first response to this was fox guarding the hen house, otherwise known as whitewash. Investigate, find nothing, and say everything is a-okay.

My next response was that perhaps they were about to throw Monica to the wolves. Claim the whole mess was her fault and expect her to fall on her own sword.

But, then I read Josh Marshall's comment:

But this raises a weird possibility: the fact that the DOJ is investigating Goodling could put a roadblock in the way of the investigating committees' efforts to give her immunity and force her to testify on Capitol Hill. So Goodling's new alleged wrongdoing could have the perverse effect of preventing her from being forced to go up to Capitol Hill and reveal what she knows about what happened in the Purge.

I think he's put his finger on the real reason for the investigation. To shut her up.