Legal Careers
Chief, Voting Section
Washington, DC 20530 - United States
The Civil Rights Division (CRT) is seeking an experienced attorney to serve as the Chief, Voting Section. The Voting Section enforces the federal civil rights laws that safeguard citizens' right to vote; brings lawsuits against states, counties, cities, and other jurisdictions; submits statements of interest in litigation brought by private parties; and monitors elections.
As the federal agency whose mission is to ensure the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans, the Department of Justice is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. To build and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of the American people, we welcome applicants from the many communities, identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, religions, and cultures of the United States who share our commitment to public service.
As a Senior Executive, the Section Chief:
- Serves as the Chief of the Voting Section to supervise, directly and through subordinate supervisors, approximately 50 employees, which include attorneys, Civil Rights Analysts, Paralegal Specialists, Social Scientists, and professional support employees;
- Manages the development of the Section's enforcement strategy and its plan for implementing that strategy, including appropriate allocation of staff resources and oversight of personnel matters;
- Plans and directs a nationwide program to enforce the applicable statutory provisions for safeguarding citizens' right to vote, including with respect to state and local redistricting plans and restrictions affecting voter registration and access to the ballot;
- Directs and reviews investigations that arise from complaints regarding violations of applicable Federal voting statutes;
- Supervises the preparation and litigation of cases brought by the Voting Section, including investigation, records analysis, drafting and filing of complaints, pre-trial discovery, writing of the trial brief, and trial;
- Intervenes in significant cases brought by private litigants involving voting rights and, where appropriate, files statements of interest in cases implicating important voting rights issues;
- Consults and advises the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and other Department of Justice officials regarding issues in voting rights policy and litigation;
- Plays a critical role in a range of policy, regulatory, and outreach issues involving voting rights, including issuing guidance documents regarding the interpretation of federal voting statutes as appropriate;
- Addresses new and emerging challenges concerning voting rights and ballot access to help ensure that the docket is dynamic and responsive to present-day problems;
- Speaks at meetings and conferences to educate other governmental agencies, industry, and/or the public about the work of the Voting Section and the Division's voting rights enforcement program. Meets and conducts outreach to community organizations and other interested parties;
- Coordinates with other components and agencies throughout the Federal government to ensure a comprehensive effort to enforce voting rights and to offer technical assistance where appropriate;
- Meets, coordinates, and fosters good working relationships with the United States Attorneys' Offices, other Department of Justice components, and other partner agencies on matters and cases related to voting rights issues;
- Resolves cases through settlement agreements, consent decrees, or litigation. Prepares recommendations for or against appeal, including appeals to the Supreme Court, and may brief or assist in the argument of the case or appeal;
- Serves as the reviewing official for attorney evaluations;
- Oversees the Section's election monitoring efforts; and
- Performs other duties as assigned by the Office of the Assistant Attorney General.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required by law to review the executive qualifications of each new career appointee to the Senior Executive Service (SES) prior to appointment.
To be considered for this position, you must submit a written statement addressing the five (5) Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and three (3) Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs) listed below. Written statements that include any form of "see resume" in an effort to satisfy the MTQ or ECQ requirement will result in removal from consideration for the position. Further, failure to address both the ECQs (as applicable) and MTQs separately as set forth below will also remove you from consideration for this position.
If you are a current Senior Executive Service (SES) career appointee, a former SES member having reinstatement eligibility, or an OPM-certified graduate of an approved SES Candidate Development Program you are not required to submit the ECQ narratives; however, you must submit the appropriate SF50 (showing SES status) or an OPM Qualifications Review Board certificate.
The ECQ narrative is limited to no more than two pages per ECQ (must not exceed 10 pages total). You must address how you have demonstrated progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior executive level managerial capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined in this job announcement. Qualified candidates typically gain experience of this nature at or above the GS-15 grade level in the Federal service or its equivalent with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. For examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements, you are strongly encouraged to review the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Guide to Senior Executive Service Qualifications. You must use the Challenge - Context - Action - Result (CCAR) model when describing your accomplishments.
You must also submit a separate narrative statement that addresses each of the Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs) related to this position; limit your responses to no more than one page for each MTQ.
Mandatory Technical Qualifications:
MTQ 1 - Demonstrated extensive experience working with one or more of the applicable statutory provisions (i.e., the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the National Voter Registration Act of 1993; the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act; the Help America Vote Act of 2002; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act; and other statutory provisions safeguarding citizens' right to vote.
MTQ 2 - Demonstrated experience managing a complex organization, a diverse workforce (including lawyers, non-lawyer professionals, and support staff), and challenging organizational issues while enforcing the law.
MTQ 3 - Demonstrated experience communicating effectively on complex legal and technical issues through oral and written communication, including the ability to advocate successfully with diverse stakeholders, external partners and individuals or groups having differing and often conflicting interests, on matters related to the successful execution of a large-scale organization's mission, programs and projects.
Executive Core Qualifications:
- Leading Change: This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.
- Leadership Competencies for ECQ-1: creativity and innovation, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking, vision.
- Leading People: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.
- Leadership Competencies for ECQ-2: conflict management, leveraging diversity, developing others, team building.
- Results Driven: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
- Leadership Competencies for ECQ-3: accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, technical credibility.
- Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.
- Leadership Competencies for ECQ-4: financial management, human capital management, technology management.
- Building Coalitions: This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.
- Leadership Competencies for ECQ-5: partnering, political savvy, influencing/negotiating.
To be considered for this position, you must provide a complete application package on USAJobs which includes, as applicable:
- A comprehensive resume that also indicates the name of the college or university, and month and year, from which you obtained your J.D.
- Your resume must demonstrate the necessary level of management skills, characteristics, qualities, specialized knowledge, and technical competence that would indicate successful performance in the SES. This evidence must include clear and concise examples that emphasize the applicant's level of responsibilities, scope, and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments, policy initiatives, and level of contacts.
- ECQ narratives (each ECQ must not exceed two pages; not to exceed 10 pages total)
- MTQ narratives (1 page per MTQ)
- Recent SF-50 that shows Official Title, Grade Level, Status
- Certification of OPM QRB approval (for graduates of SES Candidate Development Programs)
- Other supporting documentation as required.
$141,022 to $212,100 Per Year
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Department Policies
Equal Employment Opportunity: The U.S. Department of Justice is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer. Except where otherwise provided by law, there will be no discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex - including gender identity, sexual orientation, or pregnancy status - or because of age (over 40), physical or mental disability, protected genetic information, parental status, marital status, political affiliation, or any other non-merit based factor. The Department of Justice welcomes and encourages applications from persons with physical and mental disabilities. The Department is firmly committed to satisfying its affirmative obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to ensure that persons with disabilities have every opportunity to be hired and advanced on the basis of merit within the Department of Justice. For more information, please review our full EEO Statement.
Reasonable Accommodations: This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Outreach and Recruitment for Qualified Applicants with Disabilities: The Department encourages qualified applicants with disabilities, including individuals with targeted/severe disabilities to apply in response to posted vacancy announcements. Qualified applicants with targeted/severe disabilities may be eligible for direct hire, non-competitive appointment under Schedule A (5 C.F.R. § 213.3102(u)) hiring authority. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to contact one of the Department’s Disability Points of Contact (DPOC) to express an interest in being considered for a position. See list of DPOCs.
Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs: Unless otherwise required by law, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits employees of the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal contractor acting on its behalf from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history record, either in writing or orally, before that individual receives a conditional offer of employment. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, may submit a written complaint within 30 days of the date of the alleged non-compliance directly to the hiring office using the contact information listed in the announcement.
Suitability and Citizenship: It is the policy of the Department to achieve a drug-free workplace and persons selected for employment will be required to pass a drug test which screens for illegal drug use prior to final appointment. Employment is also contingent upon the completion and satisfactory adjudication of a background investigation. Congress generally prohibits agencies from employing non-citizens within the United States, except for a few narrow exceptions as set forth in the annual Appropriations Act (see, https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/non-citizens/). Pursuant to DOJ component policies, only U.S. citizens are eligible for employment with the Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Trustee’s Offices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Unless otherwise indicated in a particular job advertisement, qualifying non-U.S. citizens meeting immigration and appropriations law criteria may apply for employment with other DOJ organizations. However, please be advised that the appointment of non-U.S. citizens is extremely rare; such appointments would be possible only if necessary to accomplish the Department's mission and would be subject to strict security requirements. Applicants who hold dual citizenship in the U.S. and another country will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All DOJ employees are subject to a residency requirement. Candidates must have lived in the United States for at least three of the past five years. The three-year period is cumulative, not necessarily consecutive. Federal or military employees, or dependents of federal or military employees serving overseas, are excepted from this requirement. This is a Department security requirement which is waived only for extreme circumstances and handled on a case-by-case basis.
Veterans: There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to attorney appointments in the excepted service; however, the Department of Justice considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. Applicants eligible for veterans' preference must include that information in their cover letter or resume and attach supporting documentation (e.g., the DD 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty and other supporting documentation) to their submissions. Although the "point" system is not used, per se, applicants eligible to claim 10-point preference must submit Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, and submit the supporting documentation required for the specific type of preference claimed (visit the OPM website, www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf for a copy of SF 15, which lists the types of 10-point preferences and the required supporting document(s). Applicants should note that SF 15 requires supporting documentation associated with service- connected disabilities or receipt of nonservice-connected disability pensions to be dated 1991 or later except in the case of service members submitting official statements or retirement orders from a branch of the Armed Forces showing that their retirement was due to a permanent service-connected disability or that they were transferred to the permanent disability retired list (the statement or retirement orders must indicate that the disability is 10% or more).
USAO Residency Requirement: Assistant United States Attorneys must reside in the district to which appointed or within 25 miles thereof. See 28 U.S.C. 545 for district specific information.
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