Justice Department

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Obama to Tap Justice Official for Labor Chief

Thomas Perez leads Justice's Civil Rights Division

(Newser) - Seeking to fill yet another second-term Cabinet vacancy, President Obama is set today to nominate Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general, to be the next secretary of labor, the White House says. If confirmed by the Senate, Perez, who has been head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division...

Holder: US Can Kill an American on Home Soil

But in response to hypothetical query, he stresses it's unlikely

(Newser) - Eric Holder says President Obama would be in his rights to order the killing of a US citizen on American soil under rare circumstances, reports Mother Jones . But in a letter to Rand Paul answering Paul's question on the matter, the attorney general stressed it would have to a...

White House Urges Court to Uphold Gay Marriage

Justice Department weighs in on California's Prop 8 case

(Newser) - The Obama administration has ramped up its fight for gay marriage at the Supreme Court ahead of two big cases in late March. The Justice Department today issued a legal brief urging the court to strike down California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, reports the Los Angeles Times...

House Unveils Medical Pot Bill

Legalization bill gets feds out of 'never-never land,' sponsor says

(Newser) - A bipartisan bill to end the federal prohibition of medical marijuana—and close the ever-greater gap between state and federal policy—was unveiled by House lawmakers yesterday, Politico reports. Chief sponsor Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, described the legislation as a way to clear up the current confusion around federal...

Justice Department Joins Suit Against Armstrong

Teaming with Floyd Landis

(Newser) - The Justice Department has jumped onto Floyd Landis' lawsuit against Lance Armstrong, arguing that the disgraced cyclist defrauded the government by violating its ban on illegal drugs while under contract to race for the US Postal Service team. The government is asking for around $100 million, or about three times...

Why Aren't We Prosecuting Singing S&P Fraudsters?

William Greider wonders if this is Obama's Watergate

(Newser) - The Justice Department's lawsuit against Standard and Poor's looks pretty damning. According to the suit, S&P knew its ratings on mortgage bonds were too loose, proposed upgrading them in 2004—and then decided not to because it would hurt the bottom line, Fortune explains. The suit makes...

Obama's Memo on Killing US Citizens Is a Disgrace

Glenn Greenwald: No free society should sanction this

(Newser) - The Obama administration's rationale for when it's OK to kill US citizens is fundamentally un-American, writes Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian . For example, the Justice Department memo says the US is justified in going after terrorists—based on the assertions of US officials supposedly in the know about...

Feds Can Kill US Citizens: DOJ Memo

Leaked document has loose definition of requirements for drone strike

(Newser) - It is legal for the American government to order the killing of an American citizen if a "high-level" official decides that the person is a senior member of al-Qaeda or an associated group who poses "an imminent threat of violent attack" against the US, according to a Justice...

Justice Filing Suit Against S&P Over 2008 Meltdown

Feds will accuse firm of fraudulently rating mortgage bonds

(Newser) - The Justice Department and state prosecutors are filing a lawsuit against the Standard & Poor's Ratings Service for its apparent role in the 2008 financial meltdown, the New York Times reports. The civil suit will accuse S&P of rating mortgage bonds too highly before their value fell off...

Feds Sue to Stop Merger of Bud, Corona

Anheuser-Busch InBev seeks a deal with Mexico's Grupo Modelo

(Newser) - The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today to stop Anheuser-Busch InBev's proposed $20.1 billion purchase of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which would unite the ownership of popular beers like Budweiser and Corona. The government said the deal could lead to higher beer prices in the US because it...

Anonymous Hacks US Site to Avenge Aaron Swartz

Government's sentencing agency is the target

(Newser) - The hackers of Anonymous have hit the website of the US Sentencing Commission in revenge for the prosecution of Aaron Swartz, reports CNN . The site ussc.gov remained down as of this morning. The hackers say they have stolen sensitive Justice Department files—naming them after Supreme Court justices—and...

Oil Rig Owner to Pay $1.4B Over Gulf Spill

Transocean settles with US over Deepwater Horizon disaster

(Newser) - The Justice Department reached a $1.4 billion settlement today with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed settlement resolves the department's civil and criminal probes...

Judge's Reluctant Ruling: Awlaki Memo to Stay Secret

Classified document outlined the legal justification for targeted killing

(Newser) - The Justice Department can keep secret the classified memo that gave the legal go-ahead to kill US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, ruled a federal judge yesterday—with reluctance. The New York Times , which itself filed the lawsuit seeking access to the memo under the Freedom of Information Act, shares portions of...

Justice Department Opens Inquiry Into HP Unit

Autonomy's bookkeeping under investigation

(Newser) - Hewlett-Packard says the Justice Department is investigating HP's business software unit Autonomy, which the computer maker has accused of fudging its accounting . HP revealed the investigation in an SEC filing yesterday. The technology company also said it provided information to the UK Serious Fraud Office and the SEC about...

Source of Leak to Makers of Zero Dark Thirty Investigated

Vickers rumored to succeed Petraeus

(Newser) - Michael Vickers, a senior Defense official rumored to be a possible replacement for David Petraeus at the CIA, has been referred to the Justice Department after Pentagon investigators concluded that he leaked restricted information about the Osama bin Laden raid to Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers, two senior US officials tell...

Gun-Control Plan? That Got Shelved

Proposal could fortify FBI background-check system

(Newser) - The Justice Department developed a new gun-control initiative after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting last year but shelved it in the heat of a presidential election campaign, the New York Times reports. Whether President Obama will revive it in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting is unknown. But the basic...

Consumer Reports Slams Ford Hybrids' Mileage

Test finds huge gap between EPA estimates and real figure

(Newser) - If the 47mpg rating on Ford's 2013 Fusion and C-Max models sounds too good to be true, well, there's a reason for that. The two hybrids perform drastically worse than advertised, Consumer Reports has concluded, clocking their actual performance at 39 mpg for the Fusion and 37 mpg...

White House Considers Legal Fight Over Pot

It might sue Colorado and Washington over legalization: NYT

(Newser) - Top Justice Department and White House officials are meeting to figure out how to respond to marijuana initiatives that decriminalized possession in Washington and Colorado states, reports the New York Times . Options for the feds include bringing cases against low-level users, filing lawsuits against states to prevent them from setting...

Official Targeted in Fast, Furious Probe Resigns

Darrell Issa says it's high time Gary Grindler left

(Newser) - House Republicans appeared to claim a scalp today in their battle over the Fast and Furious case, as Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler announced his resignation. The administration says Grindler's departure was little more than standard second-term turnover, but Grindler came under harsh criticism in Darrell Issa's investigation,...

Lawyers in Settlement Talks on 'Fast and Furious' Suit

Republicans have sued Eric Holder for documents

(Newser) - Lawyers for the Justice Department and Darrell Issa's House Oversight panel are trying to settle a Fast and Furious lawsuit themselves in new negotiations, reports CNN and Reuters . Issa's GOP-led committee sued Eric Holder in August to try to force him to hand over documents related to the...

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