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I'm not a lawyer but I'm basically positive there is no federal law that prohibits an employer from:

- asking you if you've ever been arrested.

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Asking about arrest records has been viewed by the courts as a violation of anti-discrimination laws, since arrestees are overwhelmingly minorities.

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Tony, I respect you for the butter eating, but please dont give legal advice.

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Actually, I don't think that tony is that far off. if anyone is interested, they can look this article up, ALR, CONSIDERATION OF ARREST RECORD AS UNLAWFUL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE VIOLATIVE OF TITLE VII OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 (42 U.S.C.A. §§ 2000E ET SEQ.), 33 A.L.R. Fed. 263.

I still think that as a practical matter, OP is screwed.

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How lame to quote an ALR article whose title completely fails to address all of the issues relevant. If you're going to try and play lawyer, at least do some lawyering. Recognize, for starters, that the practice is NOT disallowed--Title VII merely gives a racial minority a basis to subsequently challenge the use of the criteria, if he is denied employment. In order to prevail in the Title VII action, plaintiff needs to be able to prove disparate impact/intent, and if successful here, then the relief is that the practice cannot be used. So if the OP isn't within a Title VII protected class, he can't even raise the argument to challenge the practice. Additionally, the employer has a number of defenses such as "business necessity" for the criteria, which if proven, trump the Title VII argument. So do me a favor and dont play lawyer with your free law student Westlaw account.