The political donations made by Robert Mueller's team are not evidence of bias
Jul 28, 2017
President Trump's aides reportedly have begun looking for evidence that the legal team assembled by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has conflicts of interest. As part of their search, aides are looking at the legal team’s political donations. Based on evidence that at least seven of the 15 lawyers have previously given money to Democrats, it appears, the administration is gearing up to make the argument that Mueller’s team is biased and thus unable to reach impartial legal conclusions.
But it's hardly remarkable that most of Mueller's investigators appear to be Democratic donors. It would be shocking if they weren't.
Justice Department rules prohibit taking political affiliation into account when filling career positions at the agency, including those in the special counsel’s office. These rules are designed to ensure that legal investigations aren’t partisan affairs. When the rules were ignored by George W. Bush’s Department of Justice, it was a national scandal.
Political contributions to Democrats are exactly what we would expect from a group of top-tier lawyers.
If Mueller followed the law and hired lawyers without taking their political ideology into account, the odds are that he would hire mostly Democrats. The reason for this is simple: Lawyers tend to be liberal.
Our research has shown that 68% of lawyers who have made any political contributions have given more money to Democrats than to Republicans.
This liberal slant is even more extreme among elite lawyers.
Of attorneys who graduated from the country's most selective law schools — the "Top 14," as they're often called — 76% of those who make political contributions have given more money to Democrats than to Republicans.
Any employers, therefore, who seek to hire the most qualified attorneys, would typically end up hiring many liberals. Mueller presumably falls into that category.
http://beta.latimes.com/opinion/op-...ueller-investigation-bias-20170728-story.html