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Dept of Justice perhaps violating the Anti-Deficiency Act

There is a report that DoJ has hired 117 prosecutors -- without paying them. (I guess the legal market is getting pretty tight, DoJ has a hiring freeze, and so they work in hopes that when that is lifted their unpaid services will be rewarded by being hired and paid).

"The unpaid attorney program, while unusual, has been used haphazardly at times in the past. But in January 2011, the DoJ began posting the volunteer positions more widely “as a strategic solution for offices to manage constrained resources”, a DoJ spokeswoman said. There are currently 10 postings for one-year positions in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia and Pennsylvania."

There's a little problem with this. 31 U.S.C. § 1342 provides:

"An officer or employee of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia government may not accept voluntary services for either government or employ personal services exceeding that authorized by law except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property.... As used in this section, the term “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property” does not include ongoing, regular functions of government the suspension of which would not imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property."