Attorney General

Were John Yoo and Jay Bybee Duped into Approving Waterboarding?

CIA medical personnel later objected to a description of the safety of waterboarding contained in a report sent to Justice Department lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee. The suspect report formed the basis for a legal memo approving waterboarding of terrorism suspects, the Washington Independent reports. The Office of Medical…

Aug 26, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Lawyers Helped Set Detainee Routine in Painstaking Detail

Newly released CIA documents illustrate that lawyers helped oversee the smallest details of detention and interrogation for terrorism suspects. The documents dispel the impression of CIA operatives run wild, according to the New York Times. Instead they make clear that the rules were “dictated from Washington with the painstaking, eye-glazing…

Aug 26, 2009 12:05 PM CDT

Ex-AG Gonzales Defends US Attorney Firings and Presidential Loyalty

Alberto Gonzales may have his share of critics, but Target shoppers in Lubbock, Texas, apparently like him. The former attorney general is in Lubbock to teach a political science class at Texas Tech and to assist in minority recruitment. In an interview with Texas Lawyer, Gonzales touched on a variety…

Aug 25, 2009 2:45 PM CDT

AG Names Prosecutor for Detainee Interrogation Probe

Updated: Attorney General Eric Holder has named a federal prosecutor to consider whether to launch a full-scale criminal investigation of some current and former CIA employees for abuses in interrogations of terrorism suspects. The Washington Post broke the news earlier today that Holder was set to name federal prosecutor John…

Aug 24, 2009 6:44 PM CDT

DOJ Report to Recommend Pursuing Detainee Abuse Cases

A report by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility will recommend reopening almost a dozen cases alleging abuse of terrorism detainees during their interrogations, a source tells the New York Times. Many observers believe Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a prosecutor to investigate; his decision is expected within…

Aug 24, 2009 11:42 AM CDT

DOJ Nazi Hunters Shift Focus to Perpetrators of New Atrocities

Nazis responsible for Holocaust atrocities are dying out, but the Justice Department unit responsible for extraditing them from U.S. soil continues to operate, albeit with a new focus. The Office of Special Investigations, created in 1979, has won deportation orders against 107 immigrants suspected of lying about their pasts on…

Aug 20, 2009 2:42 PM CDT

DOJ Won’t Appeal Ruling Likely to Cut Sentence for Nacchio

The Department of Justice won’t appeal a ruling last month expected to result in a lower insider trading sentence for the former CEO of Qwest Communications. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said on Monday that the ruling would not be appealed, but she did not indicate the reason why, Reuters…

Aug 18, 2009 6:39 PM CDT

Protesters Greet Law Professor John Yoo at UC Berkeley

At least four protesters were arrested in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday after they refused to leave the lecture hall where former Justice Department official John Yoo was teaching a civil law class. Protesters shouted “war criminal” as Yoo entered the building at the University of California Berkeley’s Boalt Hall law…

Aug 18, 2009 11:43 AM CDT

UBS Agrees to Reveal Names of Suspected US Tax Evaders

Lawyers who defend those accused of tax fraud may be seeing an increase in workload soon. Swiss bank UBS has agreed to disclose the names of U.S. clients suspected of tax evasion in a deal reached with the U.S. Justice Department, the New York Times reports. Justice Department lawyer Stuart…

Aug 12, 2009 3:26 PM CDT

White House Discussed US Attorney Iglesias for Months Before 2006 Firing

A top federal prosecutor in New Mexico was seemingly fired in 2006 after he didn’t jump on political corruption cases that could have helped a Republican lawmaker win re-election, and “extensive communication” among attorneys and aides at the White House preceded his dismissal for months beforehand, reports the Washington Post.…

Aug 11, 2009 9:48 PM CDT

AG Reportedly Close to Appointment of Prosecutor for Interrogation Probe

Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly close to appointing a criminal prosecutor to probe allegations that the CIA committed abuses in the interrogation of terrorism suspects. Unnamed government officials told the Los Angeles Times that the probe would focus on whether officials went beyond techniques authorized in Justice Department memos.…

Aug 10, 2009 3:08 PM CDT

Ex-AG Gonzales Shunned by Law Firms—and Apparently by Bush

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, still under investigation for his role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, has been accused of being loyal to a fault to the man who appointed him, former President George W. Bush. Now Gonzales isn’t hearing from Bush—or from law firms wanting to extend…

Aug 10, 2009 11:39 AM CDT

Administration Weighs in on State Secrets in an Employee Firing Dispute

An amicus brief filed by the administration in a case involving a worker’s conversations with a lawyer is raising concern among liberals for its position on the state secrets privilege. The case stems from a dispute over a fired employee’s conversations with a lawyer for his onetime employer, Mohawk Industries,…

Aug 4, 2009 2:50 PM CDT

Fired By Ashcroft, Hired By Holder: Guendelsberger Again Tapped for BIA

In a symbolic move, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made his first appointment to the nation’s highest immigration appeals panel. His selection: John Guendelsberger, a former immigration law professor and eight-year veteran of the Board of Immigration Appeals who lost his seat in 2003 when then-Attorney General John Ashcroft…

Aug 3, 2009 8:58 PM CDT

AG Holder Calls for Getting ‘Smart on Crime’ #ABAChicago

Drawing a sharp contrast between the Bush and Obama administrations, without ever naming the former, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the ABA House of Delegates that “we no longer must choose between more prisoners or more crime.” He declared the Department of Justice under his watch will “embrace the…

Aug 3, 2009 8:31 PM CDT