Justice Department

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White House Mum on CIA Tapes
White House Mum on CIA Tapes
Dec 10, 2007 4:49 PM CST

White House Mum on CIA Tapes

Perino told not to discuss matter with press

(Newser) - Lawyers have advised the White House spokeswoman not to discuss the CIA’s destruction of interrogation videotapes with the press. “I think that’s appropriate, and I’ll adhere to it,” Dana Perino said today of the administration lawyers' gag order. The White House typically stops commenting once...

Justice Dept. Opens Probe of CIA Tapes

Agency under fire for destroying videos of terror interrogations

(Newser) - The Justice Department will open a preliminary investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing the severe interrogation of terrorism suspects, MSNBC reports. The CIA's internal watchdog will do the same. The preliminary probes will determine if broader investigations are warranted. The CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005 against the...

CIA Was Warned Not to Destroy Tapes

Agency defied advice from White House, Congress, Justice

(Newser) - The CIA destroyed interrogation videotapes in 2005 against the advice of the White House, Justice Department, and members of Congress, the New York Times reports. All warned of the potential legal risks of destroying the tapes, which showed the harsh interrogation of two al-Qaeda operatives. The agency's chief of clandestine...

Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime
Filling Jails Doesn't
Cut Crime
Nov 20, 2007 6:23 AM CST

Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime

Study concludes that longer sentences don't make streets safer

(Newser) - Getting tough on criminals through longer prison terms—at an annual cost of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars—hasn't made a major impact on crime, concludes a study released yesterday. The US prison population has increased 800% since 1970—giving the nation has the world's highest incarceration rate—...

Packed Prisons 'Costly Failure'
Packed Prisons 'Costly Failure'
Nov 20, 2007 2:45 AM CST

Packed Prisons 'Costly Failure'

Report calls for shorter sentences, quicker paroles, aid on release

(Newser) - America's prisons, crammed with 2.2 million inmates, are an expensive failure, according to a report by a Washington criminal justice research group. The JFA Institute calls for shorter sentences and parole terms, alternative punishments and decriminalizing recreational drugs—steps that would cut the prison population in half and save...

Homeland Security Adviser Joins White House Exodus

Townsend leaves behind mixed legacy

(Newser) - The president's homeland security adviser resigned today, extending the string of high-profile White House departures. Frances Frago Townsend was in charge of the president’s counterterrorism program for 4½ years, the Washington Post reports, managing the response to the London bombing and upgrading air transportation security. No reason was given...

Justice Dept. March Targets Hate Crimes

Thousands rally in DC for more aggressive prosecution

(Newser) - Thousands of marchers converged near the Justice Department in Washington, DC, today, to protest what they say is a lax attitude toward prosecuting hate crimes. The marchers, led by Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, cited the Jena 6 controversy in Louisiana and a subsequent spate of incidents involving...

At Mukasey Ceremony, Bush Vows Justice Makeover

New Attorney General brings 'clear purpose and resolve'

(Newser) - President Bush looked on as Michael Mukasey was ceremonially sworn in today as attorney general today, the AP reports, and promised to rebuild the ravaged Justice Department behind him. “Michael Mukasey has my complete trust and confidence,” Bush said. “And he's going to have the trust and...

14 of 17 Blackwater Killings Unjustified: FBI

But prosecution of guards responsible may be stymied by immunity guarantees

(Newser) - Fourteen of the 17 Iraqi civilians Blackwater guards killed at a busy Baghdad intersection in September were unjustified shootings, FBI investigators have concluded. Three deaths—including a mother and son in a car—could be considered a valid use of lethal force in response to a perceived threat, the New ...

AG Mukasey Sics Justice Probers on Wiretap Program

Surprise investigation signals new independence from White house

(Newser) - New Attorney General Michael Mukasey has named the Justice Department 's first investigative target: the Justice Department. Mukasey has reopened an internal probe of the role played by the agency's own attorneys in the controversial post-911warrantless wiretap program, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is a key signal that...

Judge Orders Bush: Save Emails
Judge Orders Bush: Save Emails
Nov 12, 2007 7:57 PM CST

Judge Orders Bush: Save Emails

Ruling comes in answer to lawsuits which claims millions are missing

(Newser) - A federal judge ruled against Bush today and ordered the White House to save all emails from now on, the AP reports. US District Judge Henry Kennedy's ruling came in answer to suits which claim that 5 million White House emails have already vanished—an issue that arose during the...

Justice Backs Microsoft in Antitrust Action

US opposes extension of scrutiny

(Newser) - Microsoft chief Bill Gates has a critical ally in the latest phase of his company's marathon antitrust suit—the Justice Department.  The agency is opposing court action by New York and California to extend judicial oversight of Microsoft's activities to 2012, reports the Wall Street Journal. Monitoring was part...

Sirius, XM Union May Have Listeners Singing the Blues

Deal would lower options, raise prices, Post writer says

(Newser) - For anyone doubting that a merger between Sirius and XM would harm the satellite radio industry by forcing listeners to go through a single provider, the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher has two words: cable TV. Fisher argues that for all of the advantages any union may produce, ultimately it...

Pirate Act to Take Senate Floor, Again

Would enable Justice Dept. to prosecute illegal downloaders

(Newser) - Legislation that would enable the Justice Department to prosecute those who partake in peer-to-peer copyright infringement is coming before Congress—for the fourth time—now sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy and John Conryn. But while it's popular among lawmakers and corporate copyright holders alike, the Pirate Act hasn't seen too...

New Standards Reduce Crack Cocaine Terms

Federal effort tries to bring parity to drug sentencing guidelines

(Newser) - Crack cocaine offenders will receive shorter prison sentences under new federal guidelines, which replaced rules that treated a gram of crack like 100 grams of powder cocaine. The rules introduced yesterday reduce the average sentence to 8 years, 10 months, the Times reports, and may reflect an effort to restore...

Gonzales Could Face Charges
Gonzales Could Face Charges
Oct 26, 2007 7:08 PM CDT

Gonzales Could Face Charges

DOJ report may recommend criminal prosecution for former AG

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales might soon find himself on an unlikely side of the law if a pending DOJ report recommends criminal charges against the former AG for lying under oath. Pending prosecution may even explain Gonzales' unexpected departure, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick speculates. Now he’s hired a criminal-defense attorney and...

Federal Court Gives Porn Biz a Break
Federal Court Gives Porn
Biz a Break
Oct 25, 2007 12:53 AM CDT

Federal Court Gives Porn Biz a Break

Judge says law intended to thwart child porn is too broad, violates free speech

(Newser) - A federal appeals court threw a wrench today into the government’s efforts to stop child porn. The Cincinnati-based court struck down a 1998 law requiring porn producers to keep records of people depicted in their materials. The Justice Department argued the law helped authorities clamp down on kiddie porn,...

Dems Slam Feds for Inaction on Noose Crimes

Racial cases up since 2000, but some spurn incidents as 'pranks'

(Newser) - Dems blasted the feds this week for not pursuing a nationwide spate of noose crimes. More than a half dozen nooses left in Maryland, Memphis, New York, and Pittsburgh have prompted no arrests, the Washington Post reports. But acting Attorney General Peter Keisler claims that the FBI and Department of...

Obama Wants Voter-Rights Official Sacked

Said voter ID laws don't hurt minorities; they 'don't become elderly'

(Newser) - Barack Obama wrote to the Justice Department asking for the dismissal of John Tanner, the head of its voting rights division, in the wake of Tanner's assertions that voter ID laws primarily hurt old white people, because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first....

Secret Evidence Isn't Just for Gitmo Anymore

Slate 's Lithwick says combatant turn is trouble for us all

(Newser) - The Department of Justice's stated reason for a major evidence no-show is that it can’t “be reasonably recompiled," Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick writes, a potentially dangerous precedent. Justice is thinking about redoing some military tribunals rather than present “not readily available” evidence used to brand enemy...

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