Susan McGuire Smith

Author: Susan McGuire Smith

Susan McGuire Smith spent most of her federal legal career with NASA, serving as Chief Counsel at Marshall Space Flight Center for 14 years. Her expertise is in government contracts, ethics, and personnel law.

Federal Interns and Politics

A district court has ruled that a small number of unsuccessful applicants for the DOJ Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program who claim their applications were excluded by agency political appointees during the Bush years for failure to pass a partisan litmus test may maintain a Privacy Act lawsuit against the department.

False Police Report Leads to Removal of Homeland Security Officer

A Customs and Border Protection Officer reported his car had been stolen. When police recovered the car and made an arrest, he tried to have the charges dropped. After admitting that the woman he initially claimed he did not know had been his mistress for some time, his future career as a federal employee was thrown into doubt. A federal court reviewed his removal appeal.

Choosing Social Ties Over Agency Law Enforcement Efficiency

A Homeland Security official was fired for being less than truthful over a machete attack involving his girlfriend’s son. A GPS tag sowed he had visited the house of a gang member on a number of occasions. He was fired for multiple reasons including unauthorized disclosure of government information and personal use of an immigration database. He filed an appeal of his removal that went to court.