Attorney General

Vote on Judicial Nominees Delayed in Spat Over Torture Memos

The nominations of five judicial nominees were delayed yesterday in a dispute over Justice Department interrogation memos. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to give consensus approval to the district court nominees yesterday, but committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., put them on hold for a week, the National Law…

Sep 19, 2008 4:47 PM CDT

Ex-Lobbyist Accused of Improper DOJ Influence Loses Recusal Bid

A former lobbyist arrested last week in connection with his work for Jack Abramoff has lost a bid to get a federal judge to recuse herself because of her role as the principal judge hearing related influence-peddling cases. Kevin Ring was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy, fraud and…

Sep 18, 2008 4:42 PM CDT

Lawyers Ask Va. Bar to Investigate Monica Goodling

About a dozen lawyers are asking the Virginia State Bar to conduct an ethics investigation of former Justice Department lawyer Monica Goodling, accused in a report this summer of illegally considering politics in hiring decisions. Lawyer William R. Wilder drafted the complaint, the Richmond Times Dispatch reports. He told the…

Sep 16, 2008 2:05 PM CDT

FTC Majority Criticizes DOJ Antitrust Guidelines for Monopolies

Critics are assailing the Justice Department’s new antitrust guidelines for corporate monopolies as being too permissive, and the dissenters include a majority of the Federal Trade Commission. Three FTC commissioners issued a statement disagreeing with many of the Justice Department’s threshold tests for when it can take action against companies…

Sep 9, 2008 1:02 PM CDT

DOJ Hires Well-Known Litigator in Google Antitrust Ad Probe

The Justice Department has hired Sanford Litvack, who is a former partner at Hogan & Hartson and a former antitrust chief under President Carter, to review evidence in an antitrust probe of Google’s advertising power. Litvack will help build the case if the department decides to proceed with a challenge…

Sep 9, 2008 11:28 AM CDT

White House Obtains Stay of Order to Turn Over Documents in Firing Probe

A federal appeals court has granted a stay of a judge’s order that White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten must turn over documents to a House committee probing the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted the temporary stay on Thursday…

Sep 8, 2008 11:27 AM CDT

Report Says Alberto Gonzales Mishandled Classified Information

Updated: An inspector general’s report released today concludes that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mishandled classified information about the government’s warrantless wiretapping program and the interrogation of terrorism detainees. The report says Gonzales took notes about the wiretap program at home at one point and stored them in his briefcase,…

Sep 2, 2008 11:19 AM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of KPMG Indictments Due to Prosecutor Tactics

Updated: A federal appeals court has upheld a judge’s dismissal of indictments against 13 accounting firm employees because the government pressured their employer to cut off their legal fees. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that prosecutors had violated the employees’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel by…

Aug 28, 2008 5:59 PM CDT

DOJ Announces New Corporate Guidelines that Ease Pressure for Privilege Waivers

Updated: The U.S. Department of Justice has unveiled new guidelines that ease pressure on corporations to waive attorney-client privilege. Under the new guidelines, corporations will no longer be required to waive the privilege to show their cooperation with the government and get more lenient treatment from prosecutors. Deputy Attorney General…

Aug 28, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

Judge Cites ‘Weak’ Privilege Claim, Refuses Stay in Miers Case

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers could be required to appear before the House Judiciary Committee as early as next month under a federal judge’s ruling yesterday. U.S. District Judge John Bates refused to stay an earlier ruling in which he found that Miers and former White House chief of…

Aug 27, 2008 11:41 AM CDT

Discussions Taking Place in White House Subpoena Case

The parties in the subpoena standoff between Congress and two former White House officials have held two meetings in an effort to resolve their differences. A status report filed in the case on Friday said the parties have met twice since a federal judge rejected a claim that the officials…

Aug 25, 2008 12:29 PM CDT

More Key Senators Seek to Delay AG’s Planned Investigative Guidelines

Four senior Democratic senators joined today with leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee in calling for further public review before new investigative guidelines planned by Attorney General Michael Mukasey become effective. The guidelines, which Mukasey says are needed to fight terrorism effectively, are now set to be finalized by the…

Aug 20, 2008 11:08 PM CDT

Mukasey Says He’ll Give FBI More Authority to Gather Intelligence

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said yesterday that he’ll loosen FBI restrictions on gathering intelligence in the United States and give the agency express authority for that mission. Mukasey told an audience in Portland, Ore., that existing rules make it “harder to gather information about threats to the national security than…

Aug 14, 2008 11:23 AM CDT

Ex-DOJ Lawyer: Politics in Ashcroft Justice Department Led to Ouster

A former senior lawyer with the Justice Department says political hiring and firing didn’t start with Alberto Gonzales, and she is Exhibit A. Writing for Legal Times, Jesselyn Radack says she was forced out of her job at the department when it was headed by John Ashcroft. It happened, she…

Aug 13, 2008 6:11 PM CDT

DOJ Has Cleaned House, Mukasey Tells ABA

Updated: Attorney General Michael Mukasey told the ABA House of Delegates this morning that “politics must play no role in either the hiring of career [Department of Justice] employees or the investigation and prosecution of cases.” He said the DOJ has cleaned house since the disclosure in late July by…

Aug 12, 2008 2:42 PM CDT