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• The Justice Department will follow its standard practice of selecting the most qualified individual for the Compliance Monitor role at Boeing and has “no interest in selecting a candidate who does not have the full confidence and support of the Court,” the government told a federal judge. by asking him to approve a proposed settlement with the aerospace giant.

• Boeing said in its brief that the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion “would and will not play a role” in the company’s “very limited role” in choosing a compliance monitor. “Boeing will focus solely on the candidates’ abilities, professional background and experience,” he wrote.

• American District Judge Reed O’Connor requested the briefs by Oct. 25 and said he would decide soon afterward whether he would approve the deal in which Boeing would plead guilty to a charge of defrauding the United States..

O’Connor, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush, had focused his attention on the DEI aspect of the proposed deal. Prosecutors previously said a Boeing monitor would be chosen “consistent with the department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion,” a standard line that has been included in cases with compliance monitors since 2018.

If the court approves the deal, the DOJ will select six finalists for the job, and Boeing can choose one after interviewing all six, if it chooses. The department would then submit its finalist candidates to a committee for review. This committee will then send its list of candidates to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General for final selection.

The independent monitor is a key provision of the agreement, in which Boeing would plead guilty to a criminal charge of fraud in the United States, pay a fine of $243.6 million and invest more than $450 million in compliance and safety programs during a three-year probationary period.

The proposed regulation arises from a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement between Boeing and the government regarding the crashes of two 737 Max 8 planes, which occurred in October 2018 and March 2019, killing 346 people. The Justice Department concluded earlier this year – following the loss of part of the cabin of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max during the flight – that Boeing had violated the 2021 agreement.

Families of some of the crash victims are calling on O’Connor to reject the settlement as too lenient on Boeing, arguing that the government should have pursued harsher criminal charges.

The story continues