Justice Department

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Bush Lawyers Face Calls for Dismissal

But disbarring Yoo or impeaching Bybee is an uphill battle

(Newser) - The Justice Department has signaled it won't prosecute the Bush administration lawyers who approved interrogation tactics widely considered to be torture, but they may have trouble keeping their jobs. A forthcoming report from the DoJ will recommend possible disciplinary action by state bar associations for the Bush lawyers, sources tell...

FBI Neglected Terror Watch List: Audit

Suspects may have traveled into US while off the list

(Newser) - The FBI is slow to update the national terror suspect watch list, and the lapses pose real risks to US security, according to a Justice Department audit. Twelve terror suspects who were either not listed or were slow to be added may have traveled into or out of the US,...

Bush Lawyers Unlikely to Face Criminal Charges

(Newser) - The Bush lawyers who gave their blessing to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques should not face criminal charges, a Justice Department report has concluded. The report does, however, say that Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury showed poor judgment and suggests that state bar associations consider reprimands and...

Feds Drop Spying Charges Against AIPAC Lobbyists

Earlier rulings made conviction unlikely: gov't

(Newser) - Government prosecutors say they will move to dismiss the espionage case against a pair of former AIPAC lobbyists linked to Rep. Jane Harman, the Washington Post reports. Prosecutors said they probably wouldn’t be able to secure a conviction because of the “additional intent requirement imposed by the court,...

Antitrust Concerns Prompt Google Books Probe

Deal gives Google exclusive chance to profit from texts, say critics

(Newser) - Federal lawyers are looking into whether a Google Book Search agreement with authors and publishers may violate antitrust laws, the New York Times reports. The settlement of a 2005 suit allows Google to put millions of scanned books online, charge viewers to read them, and share revenues with both groups....

GOP Torture Stance Is All Politics, But Media Is Mum

(Newser) - Republican calls for the selective release of memos on torture techniques is a naked political ploy, Greg Sargent writes on the Plum Line. “The emerging official position of the GOP on torture is that the only classified information about torture that should be released is that which can bolster...

Bybee Rues Signature on Torture Memos

Friends say he regrets way the legal opinions were used

(Newser) - Jay Bybee has told friends and colleagues that he regrets his role as one of the authors of the so-called torture memos, the Washington Post reports. Most notably, Bybee, who's now a federal judge, signed off on the 2002 memo that authorized waterboarding. "I've heard him express regret at...

Obama Looks to Limit Right to Counsel

(Newser) - The Obama administration is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would curtail the right of criminal suspects to counsel, the AP reports. At issue is a 1986 ruling that prevents police from questioning suspects unless a lawyer is present. The Justice Department says the restriction “serves no real...

Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos
Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos
OPINION
Apr 17, 2009 7:48 AM CDT

Bush AG, CIA Chief Slam Obama on Torture Memos

(Newser) - Barack Obama made a dangerous mistake in yesterday releasing Justice Department memos about interrogation techniques from 2005, say former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former CIA Director Michael Hayden. By releasing the details of these methods, Obama is eliminating a crucial intelligence tool—not just for his own administration but...

Obama Releases Bush Memos Detailing Torture

Justice docs released detail OK'd techniques

(Newser) - A Bush-era memo on interrogation techniques acknowledged that waterboarding represented a “threat of imminent death,” but that the simulated-drowning procedure was not torture because it caused no lasting psychological harm, Reuters reports. The Justice Department memo and three others on interrogations were released to the public today—and...

CIA Waterboarders Won't Be Prosecuted
 CIA Waterboarders 
 Won't Be Prosecuted 
updated
Apr 16, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

CIA Waterboarders Won't Be Prosecuted

(Newser) - Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Barack Obama said today that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted. Obama officials also released four secret memos detailing tactics against 28...

NSA Violated Domestic Wiretap Limits

Agency overcollected Americans' emails, phonecalls: officials

(Newser) - The NSA has been listening in on the domestic communications of American citizens well in excess of the limits placed on it by Congress last year, say intelligence officials. The Justice Department has confirmed to the New York Times that it detected "issues" in recent months but said it ...

Obama May Keep CIA Torture Memos Classified

Bush-era docs give OK for waterboarding

(Newser) - The Obama administration faces a tough call on whether to declassify Bush-era Justice Department memos that outline harsh CIA interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, the Wall Street Journal reports. The president is still reviewing internal arguments but is leaning toward keeping the most sensitive documents classified, insiders say.

Holder Changes Ethics Boss at Justice Dept.

Move comes one day after judge's criticism over Stevens case

(Newser) - Attorney General Eric Holder says he's shifting some office heads at the Justice Department and putting a career Washington prosecutor in charge of the internal ethics unit. Mary Patrice Brown will lead the Office of Professional Responsibility, which drew criticism from a federal judge this week for the handling of...

In Stevens Case, Justice Was Served After All
In Stevens Case, Justice Was Served After All
OPINION
Apr 8, 2009 7:54 AM CDT

In Stevens Case, Justice Was Served After All

Ruling in court of public opinion trumps court of law's dismissal

(Newser) - Ted Stevens and his lawyers were awfully indignant yesterday for a crew that had just won. “You’d think there would be jubilation,” said Stevens’ attorney. Instead, “it was revulsion, revulsion turned to anger,” Brendan Sullivan raged. Stevens himself lamented that “consequences…can never be...

Judge Nixes Stevens Conviction, Targets Feds

Vows prosecutors will face contempt charges

(Newser) - A Washington judge officially set aside Ted Stevens' conviction today, and vowed to pursue criminal contempt charges against the Justice Department prosecutors who bungled the case against the former senator, Politico reports. Emmet Sullivan berated prosecutors for withholding potentially crucial evidence: “In 25 years on the bench, I have...

US Used Mentally Ill Witness at Gitmo

Detainee with antisocial personality disorder testified against others

(Newser) - Justice Department lawyers withheld records detailing the mental illness of a witness used against numerous fellow Guantanamo detainees, McClatchy Newspapers report. "How can this court have any confidence whatsoever in the United States government to comply with its obligations and to be truthful?" asked a federal judge, who ruled...

Justice to Void Conviction of Ex-Sen. Ted Stevens

(Newser) - Attorney General Eric Holder intends to drop all charges against Ted Stevens, Justice Department officials tell NPR. Sentencing for Stevens, convicted of failing to disclose gifts from constituents, has been delayed for months as the judge berated the Justice Department for prosecutorial misconduct, including withholding evidence from the defense. Given...

Yemen Doc Cleared to Leave Gitmo After 7 Years

Justice Department clears detainee for transfer to unknown country

(Newser) - A Yemeni doctor held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 has been cleared for transfer abroad as part of the administration's review of prisoner cases, reports CNN. Justice Department officials say the hard part now will be to find a country willing to take him. The Bush administration once claimed the...

Push to Boost Diversity Backfires on FBI

Whoops—bureau's website features fired whistleblower agent

(Newser) - Luckily for the FBI, photos can't talk. The bureau's website promotes its American Indian/Alaskan Native diversity program with a picture of an agent who says she was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle about racial insensitivity, "In the Loop" columnist Al Kamen reports for the Washington Post....

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