The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department — one of the DOJ’s most important arms, charged with enforcing our nation’s anti-discrimination laws — has been experiencing some upheaval over the past few years. Several articles in the Washington Post have examined some of the conflicts within the division. See, e.g., here, here, and here.

We’ve learned that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee may be taking a closer look at what’s going on over at the Civil Rights Division. And when they do, some of their attention may focus on the Special Litigation Section, headed by Shanetta Y. Cutlar.

Here’s an explanation of the Section’s mission, from its website:

[The Section is] charged with enforcing federal civil rights statutes in four major areas: Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons, Conduct of Law Enforcement Agencies, Access to Reproductive Health Clinics and places of Religious Worship, and Religious Exercise of Institutionalized Persons. The Section undertakes investigations and litigation through the United States and its territories.

The Section Chief is Shanetta Cutlar, an award-winning litigatrix. And even though some attorneys and staff members have alleged that she’s “abusive” — what a subjective word! — Cutlar is a woman after our own heart. There’s nothing we love more than a high-powered female who takes charge of a situation and demands respect from her subordinates. We adore women in leadership roles who follow the teaching of Machiavelli: “[I]t is far safer to be feared than loved.”

A former attorney in the Special Litigation Section, Ty Clevenger — a Stanford Law grad and former law clerk to the highly esteemed Judge Morris Arnold (8th Cir.) — had some issues with Cutlar and how she ran the Section. Last fall, Clevenger sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty. Clevenger alleged that Cutlar — whom he described as “extremely intelligent” and “very charming,” but also “a Jekyll and Hyde personality” — created an “atmosphere of fear and paranoia” within the Section.

On October 4, 2006, Ty Clevenger sent his letter to McNulty. Clevenger’s office was searched overnight, and he was fired the next day. He is in the process of filing a whistleblower complaint.

Here’s the first page of Clevenger’s letter to the DAG:

There’s more. Juicy details about La Shanetta’s alleged behavior are described in the rest of Ty Clevenger’s letter. The letter has been distributed to all the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee (with supporting documentation).

We reprint the entire Clevenger letter, which a source helpfully leaked provided to us, after the jump.

Here’s the rest of the letter. Once again, the emphases have been added by us.

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Congratulations, Ms. Cutlar! Many divas walk the halls of Main Justice — but YOU have been named ATL’s DOJ Diva of the Day. Keep up the good work!

P.S. We have more Shanetta-licious documents in our possession. But we’re not going to release them all at once, so as not to overload you. Check back soon for more.

Update: We’ve done several subsequent posts about Shanetta Cutlar. We’ve provided biographical data about her, described how she terrorized a summer intern, and shared an account of her final confrontation with Ty Clevenger.

To access the complete archives of our Shanetta Cutlar coverage, click here.

Civil Rights Division: Special Litigation Section [U.S. Department of Justice]
IACP 2005 Civil Rights Award Presented to Shanetta Cutlar [International Association of Chiefs of Police]