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A failed clearance check will almost certainly come up on the next clearance check. Gonna have to think about your priorities. While weed may be legalized in DC, it is not at the federal level. There are unlikely to be sympathetic to this fact.

That being said, 5+ years down the line, this can probably be explained/forgiven. More importantly, there a LOT of steps that need to happen before getting gov't clearance for an AUSA position. Putting the cart before the horse a bit here.

If they rejected you because they require one full year of no drug use, I would imagine that if you apply again with at least one full year without drug use, you won't get rejected just on the basis that you were rejected before. It will certainly come up that you were rejected, but as long as you didn't lie on the first check (which you apparently didn't), I don't see that the fact of being rejected will make any more difference than what you were rejected for (that is, they will still consider the drug use that caused you to be rejected, but it will be further in the past).

The federal background check asks for drug use in the past 7 years (that is, from the time of the check). Honestly, I think the further in the past you can put the drug use, the better off you are - just from a getting-hired point of view. But you won't be getting hired at a USAO straight out of law school anyway, so if you quit before LS, you may be coming up on 5 years drug free by the time the check comes around again.

is this something he might run up against with state bar C&F questionnaires?

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You're in violation of federal law by smoking. That may be an issue for a number of things.

grand inquisitor wrote:is this something he might run up against with state bar C&F questionnaires?

Yup. For others who might stumble across the thread, this is why you should withdraw your DOJ application instead of disclosing. If a state asks broadly-phrased questions about why you have ever been rejected for a job, this scenario might fall within one of those questions.

Edit: I see OP's second post suggesting that he technically "withdrew" instead of being denied, but everyone knows the motto for C&F is disclose disclose disclose.

Stop smoking.

There's two issues:

1. C&f. No idea how it'll effect, but its done by the state so maybe dc will be chill.

2. Security clearance. No issue there. These checks look for dirt that can be used to black mail. As long as you abstain for a year and don't fail any tests, they don't care what you've done, as long as your honest. Ive had friends with felony intent to distribute charges get TS clearance.

Oh my god so many people smoke marijuana that they have to run into this issue all the time. Relax.

It is still illegal according to the feds. It's a reasonable thing to ask about.