Justice Department

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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....

Critics Blast Obama's 'State Secrets' Court Fight

White House seeks to kill lawsuit by Islamic charity over FBI wiretaps

(Newser) - Civil liberties activists are accusing President Obama of going back on his word and behaving like George Bush when it comes to protecting administration secrets, reports the Washington Post. The harsh criticism comes in the wake of a lawsuit brought by an Oregon Islamic charity seeking damages for the alleged...

New Solicitor General in Line for High Court

Center-left lawyer will work closely with Supremes

(Newser) - Elena Kagan became America's first female solicitor general yesterday, putting her one step closer to a possible Supreme Court nomination, the AP reports. As the so-called "10th Supreme Court justice," Kagan will effectively audition for the high court if she argues a Voting Rights Act case next...

US Halts Raids on Medical Marijuana Facilities

Holder signals major shift from Bush era's zero tolerance

(Newser) - Attorney general Eric Holder said yesterday that the Justice Department will no longer prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries that operate legally in California and 12 other states, reports the Los Angeles Times. While he and other Obama officials had hinted previously at the change, the AG's announcement was the most detailed...

US Drops Term 'Enemy Combatant'

(Newser) - The Obama administration said today it is abandoning one of President Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant, the AP reports. The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. But that won't change...

Bush Lawyer Authorized Suspending 1st Amendment

Yoo memo also let military attack buildings inside US

(Newser) - Immediately after 9/11 the Justice Department under President Bush approved military attacks on apartments and offices, high-tech surveillance of citizens, and a suspension of press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. The actions detailed in the newly released memo, co-written by John Yoo and sent to Alberto Gonzales, were seen...

US Will Charge 'Combatant' in Military Custody

In policy shift, he will get civilian trial, not military tribunal

(Newser) - Ali al Marri, the only alleged enemy combatant held on US soil, will be charged by the Justice Department, possibly for supplying material support to terrorism, ABC News reports. The move to a civilian criminal trial is an about-face from the policies of the Bush administration, which had insisted on...

Holder Makes Solo Visit to Guantanamo

AG visits detention center Obama pledges to shut down

(Newser) - Eric Holder is en route to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, reports the AP, as the government weighs what is needed to shut the facility down. No news reporters are accompanying the attorney general on the flight, and it remains unclear if Holder will open any of his visit...

Swiss Bank Will Give Names of US Tax Dodgers

(Newser) - Switzerland's biggest bank admitted today that it helped wealthy US customers evade their taxes, the Wall Street Journal reports. UBS set up shell companies and fake trusts for customers so they could hide their accounts from the IRS. The company will pay $780 million in fines and turn over the...

DOJ Pulls Prosecutors Off Stevens Case

Judge finds lawyers in contempt for withholding documents

(Newser) - The Justice Department has yanked the team that prosecuted Ted Stevens off any future action in the case, Politico reports, after the judge found four of the lawyers—including chief prosecutor Brenda Morris—in contempt. Morris and company raised the judge’s ire by withholding documents related to FBI agent...

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