Executive Branch

Amid worry about Trump, calls for career Justice Dept. staff to stay

Attorney General Merrick Garland and top Justice Department officials are encouraging career staffers to remain in their jobs through the next administration, stressing that institutional knowledge is important as new leaders take hold, according to people familiar with those conversations

Dec 2, 2024 2:30 PM CST

With Hunter pardon, Biden joins short list of presidents who absolved family

While controversy over presidential pardons has a long history—from George Washington absolving instigators of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795 to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard M. Nixon after the Watergate scandal forced his resignation—few have used the constitutionally vested power to pardon family members.

Dec 2, 2024 11:25 AM CST

5th Circuit again blocks US from cutting razor-wire fence installed by Texas at border

Texas is entitled to a preliminary injunction that blocks the federal government from cutting razor wire that the state had installed along the border, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans ruled last week.

Dec 2, 2024 10:05 AM CST

With D.C. case dismissed, Trump is no longer under federal indictment

A judge dismissed the federal election-obstruction charges against President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, ending a historic investigation that never went to trial but led to enduring changes in the legal landscape over a president’s immunity from prosecution.

Nov 25, 2024 1:15 PM CST

Trump plans to fire Jack Smith’s team, use DOJ to probe 2020 election

President-elect Donald Trump plans to fire the entire team that worked with special counsel Jack Smith to pursue two federal prosecutions against the former president, including career attorneys typically protected from political retribution, according to two individuals close to Trump’s transition. Trump is also planning to assemble investigative teams within the Justice Department to hunt for evidence in battleground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election, one of the people said.

Nov 25, 2024 12:15 PM CST

Supreme Court will consider reviving another curb on agency power known as nondelegation doctrine

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether Congress and the Federal Communications Commission violated the nondelegation doctrine in a challenge to fees imposed on telecommunications carriers to help provide service in underserved areas.

Nov 25, 2024 12:03 PM CST

Senate Democrats drop 4 appeals court picks so they can confirm 12 judges

Senate Democrats have reached a deal with their Republican counterparts to confirm a dozen judges nominated by President Joe Biden while pulling four of his nominees from consideration, the latest step in a battle over who controls the nation’s federal courthouses on the eve of a second Donald Trump presidency.

Nov 22, 2024 8:26 AM CST

Matt Gaetz attorney general confirmation was in doubt ahead of withdrawal

Former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) has withdrawn from consideration to become attorney general in a new Trump administration, he announced Thursday, after facing steep opposition from fellow Republicans.

Nov 21, 2024 11:45 AM CST

Georgia appeals court cancels arguments on removal of DA Fani Willis from Trump case

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday abruptly canceled oral arguments on Donald Trump’s appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against the president-elect and several of his allies.

Nov 19, 2024 3:25 PM CST

NY prosecutors appear open to yearslong delay in Trump hush money case

Manhattan prosecutors Tuesday said they will oppose a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers to dismiss his 34-count felony conviction but suggested they were open to postponing proceedings in the case until after the president-elect’s second term in the White House.

Nov 19, 2024 3:20 PM CST

Where have all the lawyers gone? 25% are in these 2 states with higher pay than $176K average

Twenty-five percent of all lawyers live in California and New York, states that include five of the top 10 metropolitan areas for attorney pay.

Nov 19, 2024 11:01 AM CST

Can Trump constitutionally install his nominees with recess appointments? Would Scalia be ‘aghast’?

Updated: Can President-elect Donald Trump use recess appointments to install his Cabinet nominees?

Nov 18, 2024 11:58 AM CST

Trump picks his personal lawyers for powerful DOJ posts

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that he planned to appoint three of the lawyers from his criminal trials to top Justice Department jobs, putting them in position to oversee the federal prosecutors and agents who brought two of the cases and to argue on behalf of his administration before the Supreme Court.

Nov 15, 2024 7:15 AM CST

Gaetz’s AG nomination could face ‘steep’ climb, senators warn

Republican senators signaled Thursday that they plan to closely scrutinize allegations of wrongdoing dogging Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, former congressman Matt Gaetz, setting up a potential showdown between the president-elect and the GOP-controlled Senate.

Nov 14, 2024 4:21 PM CST

Biden faces shrinking window for judicial nominations

Senate Democrats are staring down a shrinking timeline to confirm more than two dozen of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, with President-elect Donald Trump warning Republicans to do all they can to block the effort.

Nov 13, 2024 3:25 PM CST