Shanetta Cutlar: Now Cool Enough for the MSM
We’re so excited. Our girlfriend SYC has made the big leagues!
Shanetta Y. Cutlar, the successful and high-powered lawyer who oversees the Justice Department’s Special Litigation Section, is the subject of an article in today’s Legal Times. We’re praised her profusely in these pages; but we’re glad that she’s finally getting her due in the mainstream media.
Some excerpts:
Ty Clevenger, 37, a former Washington Times reporter and line attorney in the section who was fired in October, has accused veteran Section Chief Shanetta Cutlar of being “abusive toward attorneys and support staff,” specifically those hired by Schlozman.Among Clevenger’s allegations: Secretaries were ordered not to assist him with an eight-hour typing project, another attorney was publicly berated for using a paper clip rather than a binder clip on a document, and an intern was reprimanded for not greeting Cutlar while passing her in the hallway.
In his whistleblower complaint, Clevenger included a copy of a statement by the intern, Deborah Meiners, 24, to a DOJ ombudsman about the hallway incident.
“I did get the sense that this was a common occurrence,” says Meiners, now a third-year law student, of her treatment.
For those of you who have been wondering if Shanetta Cutlar is aware of her newfound celebrity, the answer is probably yes — now that the Legal Times has contacted her office for comment:
Cutlar’s office referred questions to a DOJ spokeswoman, who issued a statement saying the department is looking into the allegations.
Interesting. Does anyone know what “looking into the allegations” entails?
Is the DOJ conducting a full-blown internal investigation of SPL? Or is it just AAG Wan Kim getting on the phone to Shanetta and saying, “This is all silliness that I don’t need to pay attention to, right?”
We hope the latter. As we’ve previously pointed out, Shanetta Cutlar is just doing her job — and exceptionally well, at that. We hope that a bunch of whiners and crybabies don’t interfere with SYC’s longstanding efforts to vindicate federal civil rights laws on behalf of the disabled, prisoners, and other groups who can’t stand up for themselves.
To Shanetta Cutlar: Congratulations on your shout-out in the Legal Times!
Whistleblower Complaint Filed Against DOJ Civil Rights Division [Legal Times]
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Comments
I wonder what Shanetta is thinking right now...
"looking into the allegations" entails hiring Gallion and Spievogel to conduct the internal investigation.
Hmmm...Cutlar reminds me of a certain national media relations director of a large and powerful nonprofit who has instilled similar fear in the hearts of assistants and producers alike.
I'm just so thrilled Cutlar the Cultar is finally getting the recognition she deserves. Way to break through that glass ceiling!!
Really? I wasn't aware that to vindicate the rights "of groups who can't stand up for themselves" meant oppressing your own staff. No wonder this country is so backwards--we should be increasing the oppression in order to advance rights!
It is about damn time something got done. Who knows what will actually happen. But even if Ms. Cutlar remains in her position after all the dust settles, it can't be pleasant for her name to appear in this story in the Legal Times. Hopefully, she'll end up like that mean officer in the movie "Good Morning Vietnam" and be re-assigned to some outpost at a lame job in Guam. Start calling in your favors or start packing the sunblock girl! You know how hot Guam can be, even for someone as hot-headed as you!