Attorney General

House Holds Ex-White House Counsel, Chief of Staff in Contempt

The House has voted to hold former White House counsel Harriet Miers and chief of staff Josh Bolten in contempt for failing to cooperate in a probe of the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. Angry Republicans walked out in advance of the vote, the Associated Press reports. The vote was…

Feb 14, 2008 7:49 PM CST

DOJ Official Who Signed 2005 Waterboarding Memo Revisits the Issue

A Justice Department official who signed two secret legal memos in 2005 authorizing the use of waterboarding now says the department has made no determination that the interrogation method is legal under current law. Steven Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, makes the statement in…

Feb 14, 2008 3:35 PM CST

DOJ May Have Known of CIA Tape Destruction a Year Before Court Disclosure

Documents released in the appeal of convicted al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui showed that Justice Department lawyers knew since at least early 2006 that the CIA destroyed a videotaped interrogation of an al-Qaida lieutenant from whom Moussaoui sought information. The date is more than a year before the destruction of the…

Feb 7, 2008 11:42 AM CST

Attorney General Gives Gay Pride Group Same Rights as Others

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has reversed a five-year-old decision that had banned a gay pride group from using Justice Department e-mail, bulletin boards and meeting rooms. The group DOJ Pride had been allowed to meet in the Justice Department’s Great Hall during the Clinton years, but under the Bush administration…

Feb 5, 2008 11:36 AM CST

Former SG Ted Olson Switches Support to McCain

Former solicitor general Ted Olson, chair of Rudy Giuliani’s justice advisory committee, has switched his support to John McCain after the withdrawal of his candidate from the presidential race. Olson praised McCain’s views on judicial nominees, reports the Chicago Tribune blog, The Swamp. “John McCain has a deep-rooted conservative philosophy…

Feb 1, 2008 6:21 PM CST

Yale Law Students Protest at Speech by Judge Who Signed ‘Torture Memo’

About 25 law students put garbage bags over their heads to protest an appearance yesterday by Judge Jay Bybee, who signed the so-called torture memo when he headed the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The trash bags were intended to resemble hoods put on military prisoners at Abu Ghraib…

Feb 1, 2008 2:38 PM CST

Mukasey Suggests CIA Tape Probe Could Expand

Attorney General Michael Mukasey disappointed some senators when he waffled on whether waterboarding is illegal at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, but he offered a small concession when he indicated an interrogation tapes probe could widen, the Washington Post reports. Mukasey’s remarks offered a hint that the probe into…

Jan 31, 2008 12:19 PM CST

Mukasey Waffles on Waterboarding

Updated: Attorney General Michael Mukasey is giving a “lawyerly response” to a Senate Judiciary Committee request for an opinion on waterboarding, the Washington Post reports. Mukasey wrote in a letter delivered late yesterday that the legal question is not an easy one, the New York Times reports. “There are some…

Jan 30, 2008 7:38 PM CST

Mukasey Gave Up Possible Corporate Monitor Gig After AG Nomination

Attorney General Michael Mukasey was close to obtaining a job as a corporate monitor but gave up the assignment after he was nominated to become the AG. Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr told the Washington Post that Mukasey, a former federal judge, was one of several people being considered to…

Jan 30, 2008 12:13 PM CST

Watchdog Complains DOJ Is Impeding His Investigation

The head of a political watchdog agency investigating the politicization of the U.S. Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales is complaining that the department is impeding his investigation. Scott Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, said in a letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times that department officials…

Jan 29, 2008 3:17 PM CST

DOJ Seeks $200M for Gang-Busting

The Department of Justice is seeking substantially to increase federal funding of efforts to combat gang-related crime blamed for much of the violence that occurs throughout the nation. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced yesterday that the DOJ will ask Congress to appropriate $200 million as part of the budgeting process…

Jan 25, 2008 7:31 PM CST

Women Lawyers Bill at Lower Rates, Compared to Men, Survey Says

Updated: A survey of a little over 5,000 small and midsize law firms found that women attorneys, regardless of experience and practice area, bill at lower rates than men. “The average billing rate for women was $224 per hour, compared with $245 per hour for men. The highest hourly rate…

Jan 25, 2008 6:38 PM CST

White House to Give Secret Wiretap Documents to House Committees

The Bush administration has agreed to turn over documents about its warrantless wiretap program to members of the House intelligence and judiciary committees. The president acted after some intelligence committee members said they wanted to see the documents before they would support immunity for telecommunications companies that aided the wiretap…

Jan 24, 2008 7:24 PM CST

DOJ Lawyer Who Wrote Interrogation Opinions Is Renominated

The Justice Department lawyer who wrote still-secret legal opinions authorizing harsh interrogation techniques has been renominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel. Steven Bradbury got the nod even though Senate Democrats had urged the administration to withdraw his name late last year, the New York Times reports. He reportedly…

Jan 24, 2008 12:09 PM CST

Probe of US Prosecutor Firings Heats Up

Ongoing investigations by Congress and the Department of Justice of the alleged politically motivated dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys are reportedly heading toward the boiling point. Citing anonymous sources, the Hill reports that investigations by the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, in particular, may result…

Jan 23, 2008 12:08 AM CST