The Washington Times reports that the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has opened an investigation into the dismissal of the default judgment obtained by career lawyers. The Times reports that DOJ on August 28 sent Rep. Lamar Smith, who has been hounding the Justice Department for answers, a letter confirming that an investigation is underway. (I have also obtained what appears to be an identical letter sent to Rep. Frank Wolf, who has likewise been attempting to drag an explanation out of Eric Holder and his department.)

For months now, the Justice Department has insisted, first, that career lawyers made the call to dismiss the case and, second, that it was justified by the “law and the facts.” What we now know is that career attorneys involved in investigating and filing the case did not agree with the decision, nor did the appellate section. Now OPR will look to see whether professional misconduct occurred—i.e., whether political considerations played a role in the dismissal of an egregious case of voter intimidation that was captured on video on Election Day in 2008 and widely circulated on the Internet.

There are two schools of thought on how this will play out. A career DOJ attorney expressed skepticism that OPR will really get to the bottom of it. The attorney says: “I can write for you right now the letter Smith will get in 9 or 12 months. Nothing to see here. Move along. We looked carefully, etc.” But a Capitol Hill source is more optimistic: “We’re hearing that they’re moving quickly inside the civil rights office collecting info. . . definitely a major step forward.”

Holder now has an opportunity to demonstrate whether he is truly the defender of the career attorneys in his department. He seems to have taken a liking to the work of OPR—using that office to go far afield of its normal role (i.e., investigating attorney misconduct) to instigate a reinvestigation of CIA operatives employing enhanced interrogation techniques. Let’s see whether both OPR and Holder can repair their reputations and assure DOJ, Congress, and the public that “politicization” of the Justice Department won’t be tolerated.