Investigators say a former top Justice Department official made false statements to Congress and violated federal law in overseeing the agency's civil rights division.

The accusations are included in a new report by the Justice Department's Inspector General on Bradley Schlozman, the former acting head of the civil rights division.

The report says Schlozman politicized and mistreated his staff and tried to punish agency employees he believed were too liberal. The report cited an e-mail in which he noted it had been a while since he'd had to "scream with a bloodcurdling cry at some commie."

Investigators referred the case to federal prosecutors last spring, but they decided last week not to file charges against Schlozman.

Tuesday's report by Inspector General Glenn Fine is the most recent of several that found senior Justice Department officials had violated civil service laws under the tenure of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The political controversies -- in particular the firing of nine U.S. attorneys -- led to Gonzales' resignation in 2007 amid charges that White House officials under President George W. Bush had influenced decisions at the normally independent Justice Department.

Earlier inquiries by Fine's office concluded that top Gonzales advisers discriminated against applicants for career jobs who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists.

The federal government makes a distinction between "career" and "political" appointees, and it is a violation of civil service laws and Justice Department policy to hire career employees on the basis of political affiliation or allegiance.

Yet Monica Goodling, who served as Gonzales' counselor and White House liaison, routinely asked career job applicants about their politics, a previous report concluded.

Investigators also concluded that the White House political affairs office recommended a majority of the immigration judge candidates whom the department considered hiring, including one name forwarded by then-top Bush adviser Karl Rove.