A new audit concludes that rookie attorneys with Republican roots got interviewed for plum Justice Department jobs while their liberal-leaning counterparts got passed over.

The Justice Department audit being released Tuesday found that a screening program installed in 2002 weeded out job applicants who had liberal or Democratic ties. The screening program peaked in 2006, when politics and ideology disqualified what the audit called a significant number of candidates.

The long-awaited report confirms widespread criticism last year that the once fiercely independent Justice Department was victim to political meddling. The scandal led to the resignation last September of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.