Justice Department

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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...

No More Politics in Justice Dept., Mukasey Vows

Bush's Attorney General nominee promises independent voice

(Newser) - A Michael Mukasey-led Justice Department won’t be the White House puppet many accused it of being under Alberto Gonzalez, the Attorney General nominee promised as confirmation hearings opened today. “Legal decisions and the progress of cases are decided by facts and law, not by interests and motives,”...

Justice Switched Focus to Sex, Terror & Immigrants

Feds back off from mob and white collar crime

(Newser) - As the Senate Judiciary Committee today considers the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, data shows a profound shift in focus by the Justice Department over the 7 years of the Bush administration. The prosecution of mobsters, white collar criminals, environmental crimes and civil rights violations have taken a...

US Task Force Targets Illegal Arms Sales

Groups will handle complex prosecutions, inter-agency teamwork

(Newser) - The Justice Department announced today that it will create special task forces charged with blocking the efforts of hostile nations to illegally export US-made parts and technology for the enrichment of their weapons systems, the Los Angeles Times reports. The National Counterproliferation Initiative will target the middlemen and front companies...

EPA Wins Record $4.6B Acid Rain Settlement

Power company must install equipment to drastically reduce emissions

(Newser) - American Electrical Power will spend $4.6 billion to drastically reduce  harmful emissions at coal-burning plants in five states in the largest pollution settlement in Justice Department history, CNN reports. Under the deal, to be announced today, the Ohio-based company must also pay an additional $60 million on cleanup and...

Bush Reiterates: US Doesn’t 'Torture People'

President denies breaking law in wake of document revelations

(Newser) - Faced with newly disclosed Justice Department memos, President Bush once again denied the US tortures detainees, saying today that interrogation techniques save American lives, comply with “international obligations” and are fully disclosed to “appropriate members” of Congress. He said of detainees, “you bet we are going to...

Dems Demand Torture Memos
 Dems Demand Torture Memos
Oct 5, 2007 3:19 AM CDT

Dems Demand Torture Memos

Anger erupts over secret approval for extreme interrogation techniques

(Newser) - The disclosure by the New York Times of secret Justice Department memos greenlighting the use of torture techniques on terror suspects has triggered an uproar on Capitol Hill. Democrats have demanded to see the memos, which authorized head-slapping, sleep deprivation, freezing, a near-drowning technique called water boarding and other painful...

Justice Memos Endorse Torture
Justice Memos Endorse Torture
Oct 4, 2007 9:56 AM CDT

Justice Memos Endorse Torture

Officials gave green light for array of painful interrogation techniques

(Newser) - The Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales secretly endorsed the use of torture techniques during interrogation by the CIA, the New York Times reports. A classified 2005 legal memorandum authorized the harshest  techniques ever used by the CIA, the Times says, including a combination of head-slapping, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, freezing, loud...

Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime
Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime
Oct 3, 2007 9:29 AM CDT

Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime

$146M wasted in premium travel

(Newser) - Federal employees wasted $146 million in a single year flying business or first class, according to a government investigation. Some 67% of premium-class travel is unauthorized or unnecessary, and the biggest abusers are Pentagon, Justice and State Department officials, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters
Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters
Sep 30, 2007 8:15 AM CDT

Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters

EPA cuts down on criminal cases, says focus is on biggest offenders

(Newser) - The EPA has taken a decidedly less aggressive tack in criminal cases, the Washington Post reports, a trend advocates fear will embolden polluters. The number of prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions have all dropped by more than a third. One ex-official, who resigned in protest, blamed the Bush administration,...

Fed Judge Rules Against Patriot Act
Fed Judge
Rules Against Patriot Act
Sep 27, 2007 6:07 AM CDT

Fed Judge Rules Against Patriot Act

Nixes two key provisions that allow secret search without probable cause

(Newser) - Key provisions of the Patriot Act allowing secret searches have been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. In the case of Portland lawyer Brandon Mayfield, whose home and office were secretly raided after he was mistakenly linked to bombings in Madrid, a US District judge found that search warrants were...

Mukasey Is No Gonzales
Mukasey Is
No Gonzales
Sep 23, 2007 12:05 PM CDT

Mukasey Is No Gonzales

Independent AG nominee, a 'serious judge,' could prove a thorn for Bush

(Newser) - Michael Mukasey, President Bush's candidate to succeed embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has an independent streak that could end up changing the way the Justice Department is run. This could make things sticky for Bush in dealing with the congressional probes into activities under the previous AG's reign, suggests the...

Federal Judge to Replace Gonzales
Federal Judge to Replace Gonzales
Sep 17, 2007 2:30 AM CDT

Federal Judge to Replace Gonzales

Compromise candidate will be named attorney general

(Newser) - President Bush  is expected to announce the appointment of retired New York federal judge Michael B. Mukasey  as attorney general, reports the Washington Post. Mukasey, 66, is considered an authority on national security issues and is a law-and-order conservative. He is also seen as someone who could be confirmed without...

Uncle Sam Buys $5 Meatballs
Uncle Sam Buys $5 Meatballs
Sep 15, 2007 8:49 AM CDT

Uncle Sam Buys $5 Meatballs

Audit criticizes DOJ for wasting taxpayer money on pricey lunches

(Newser) - The Justice Department shells out $5 per meatball and nearly as much for a can of soda when it invites folks for lunch, an audit says. And don't forget the cookies: Justice ran up a $13,000 tab on those at 10 recent conferences. The audit says no laws were...

DOJ Knocks Down 'Net Neutrality'
DOJ Knocks Down 'Net Neutrality'
Sep 6, 2007 8:35 PM CDT

DOJ Knocks Down 'Net Neutrality'

Says ISPs should be able to charge consumers more for priority traffic

(Newser) - Internet service providers should be able to charge a premium for customers who want certain content to load faster than others, the Justice Department said today. In a recommendation to the FCC, Justice claimed "net neutrality"—the idea that all websites should be equally accessible—could slow online...

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