Federal Government

Foreign Farmworker Regulation Eases

Despite opposition from many fellow Republicans, the White House has been quietly spearheading an effort to streamline regulations and make it easier for farmers to import foreign field workers. Attempting to alleviate a severe farmworker shortage apparently caused at least in part by stepped-up border and immigration enforcement, the Bush…

Oct 8, 2007 5:46 PM CDT

CIA Director Details Interrogations

In another reaction to a lengthy New York Times article yesterday on secret Department of Justice legal opinions on interrogation tactics, the director of the CIA sent an internal memo to employees disputing the premise that the memos opened the door for harsher methods. In his memo, Michael Hayden describes…

Oct 5, 2007 10:40 PM CDT

Bush: No Torture; Senator: No Info

Reacting to controversy sparked by a New York Times article yesterday about two secret Department of Justice legal opinions in 2005 that at least arguably conflict with contemporaneous public administration statements about torture, President George W. Bush reiterated today that the U.S. doesn’t torture prisoners. Plus, the president insisted, the…

Oct 5, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

Congress Probes Latest Torture Concerns

Congressional committees are launching investigations, after a New York Times article today revealed that two secret Department of Justice opinions in 2005 endorsed prisoner interrogation techniques some consider tantamount to torture. However, the White House has reiterated prior assertions that the U.S. doesn’t torture prisoners. The Democratic chairs of both…

Oct 4, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

Dems Seek Czar, Cite Mortgage ‘Katrina’

Democratic members of Congress called today for President George W. Bush to appoint a “mortgage czar,” among other measures suggested to deal with record-setting numbers of home mortgage foreclosures resulting from risky lending in recent years. The mortgage czar would coordinate a federal response to the mortgage crisis, which should…

Oct 3, 2007 9:07 PM CDT

White House Wiretap Secrecy a ‘Legal Mess’

A former Justice Department official told a Senate committee yesterday that he encountered “a legal mess” when reviewing a secret terrorism eavesdropping program. Jack L. Goldsmith, who formerly led the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, said White House secrecy and its belief in executive power made it difficult to review…

Oct 3, 2007 3:18 PM CDT

Loyal Opposition

ABA leaders say relations with the Bush administration are constructive despite policy differences

Oct 1, 2007 4:20 PM CDT

Small Firm, Big Litigation

In more than 30 years of mass torts practice, Mark Robinson has helped his small Calfornia law firm make a big mark. Founded in 1978 after Robinson won a $128 verdict for a 13-year-old plaintiff with burn injuries in a Ford Pinto gas-tank case, Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson had evolved…

Sep 27, 2007 7:48 PM CDT

CIA Top Lawyer Won’t Be Rizzo

A controversy over John Rizzo’s role in harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects has scuttled his nomination to become general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency. The administration withdrew Rizzo’s name yesterday, the New York Times reports. Rizzo has been acting general counsel at various times over the last six years.…

Sep 26, 2007 3:19 PM CDT

Feds Sue IL Over New Immigration Law

In an action that puts the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution at issue, the federal government is suing the state of Illinois over a new law that bans employer participation in a new voluntary federal program that verifies the identity of legal immigrants. Filed in federal court in Springfield,…

Sep 25, 2007 6:11 PM CDT

‘Virtual Immunity’ for Private Guards in Iraq

Private contractors who provide security in Iraq “operate with virtual immunity from Iraqi and American law,” the New York Times reports. Congress directed the Defense Department last year to develop rules that would put military contractors under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but it has not yet complied, the…

Sep 20, 2007 4:30 PM CDT

Bush Nominates Mukasey as AG

Updated: President Bush formally announced this morning that he is nominating retired federal judge Michael B. Mukasey to become attorney general. Bush told reporters at this morning’s press conference that Mukasey is “clear-eyed” to the terrorist threat. Bush and Mukasey’s complete remarks were published in a White House press release.…

Sep 17, 2007 2:44 PM CDT

AG Nomination Should Avoid Past Errors

As President George W. Bush decides who should succeed Alberto Gonzales, one consideration should be paramount, observers say: Whether the new attorney general will focus on the best interests of the country rather than partisan politics. “The nation’s top lawyers may have broken the law, and even may have sent…

Sep 13, 2007 11:26 PM CDT

Politics on Trial Along With Oil Man

The defense attorney for Texas oil man Oscar Wyatt argued yesterday that the federal prosecution of his client for paying kickbacks to buy Iraqi oil is “the United States at its hypocritical worst.” Gerald Shargel told Manhattan jurors that his 83-year-old client had long helped the United States in the…

Sep 11, 2007 11:45 AM CDT

Patriot Act Ruling Could Curtail FBI Technique

A federal judge’s decision yesterday striking down parts of the USA Patriot Act could cut the FBI’s use of national security letters to gather customer information from telecommunications companies for terrorism investigations. The decision said the revisions violated the First Amendment by giving the FBI wide discretion to make case-by-case…

Sep 7, 2007 1:23 PM CDT