Justice Lawyers Get New Warning

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has reissued a warning that career lawyers must watch what they say about their work.

The warning was e-mailed Friday to division section chiefs, according to several sources, reprising a Sept. 28 memo stating that career lawyers who talked to "outside entities" about "internal legal deliberations" would face discipline to include possible disbarment.

The new memo came after a Washington Post report Friday about concerns among some career lawyers that political appointees are compromising the enforcement of civil rights laws.

In an interview Thursday, Associate Attorney General for Civil Rights Ralph Boyd acknowledged the first memo. He said that he did not know if it was long-established policy but that it should be. "It's my policy," he said. "I'm quite sure it's a department-wide policy. What we're talking about are obviously ethical deliberations."