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... It is therefore surprising that in the first seven months of the Obama administration, a series of hyper-partisan decisions, questionable appointments, and the inexplicable dismissal of a high-profile voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther party have once again fanned suspicions that the Justice Department is a pawn in partisan political battles. ... Sitting in his Capitol Hill office, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, speaks in careful, clipped sentences, rephrasing at times to convey precisely what he means. His irritation is apparent. "The whole concern here is an administration that would...

Eric Holder's Justice Department includes the ATF within its bounds. I have been experiencing a severe delay in processing a Form 4 and wonder if fellow FReepers are also seeing an undocumented change in policy for handling the purchase of NFA Class III items? Anyone care to guess if Eric Holder is throttling down the vetting process?

In the litany of criticisms leveled at President George W. Bush none was repeated more often than the accusation that he had "politicized the administration of justice." In endless television show appearances and congressional hearings, Democratic lawmakers like Senator Chuck Schumer railed against the politicization of the Justice Department, lecturing all who would listen about how Justice "is different than any other department. In every other department, the chief cabinet officer is supposed to follow the president's orders, requests, without exception. But the Justice Department has a higher responsibility: rule of law and the Constitution." Democrats loved to berate...

Richard Reid, the man who tried to blow up American Airlines flight 93 is housed in the Supermax prison in Colorado. Until this month, he had been subject to security restrictions which prevented his communication with other Al Qaeda members, where ever they are. Not anymore. The Holder Justice Department has decided to relax these security measures against an unrepentant terrorist... (Read the rest at muffledoar.blogspot.com)

Today, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled 'Revenge of the ‘Shoe Bomber’: The terrorist sues to resume his jihad from prison. The Obama administration caves in,' Debra Burlingame writes: On June 17, at the Administrative Maximum (ADX) penitentiary in Florence, Colo., one of those albatrosses, inmate number 24079-038, began his day with a whole new range of possibilities. Eight days earlier [June 9, 2007 pdf file at link], the U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver filed notice in federal court that the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) which applied to that prisoner -- Richard C. Reid, a.k.a. the “Shoe Bomber” --...

Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC News in an exclusive interview today that he is increasingly concerned about Americans becoming radicalized and turning to terrorism. ..... Holder quotes: "I mean, that's one of the things that's particularly troubling: This whole notion of radicalization of Americans," ..... "Leaving this country and going to different parts of the world and then coming back, all, again, in aim of doing harm to the American people, is a great concern."

U.S. Sen. Grassley: $607,586 to the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency 7/29/2009 $607,586 to the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said that the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has awarded two grants totaling $607,586 to the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency in Des Moines through the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Program. “These funds will help provide the Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning Agency keep kids out of the juvenile justice system,” Grassley said. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the...

Congress has taken serious notice. Both Judiciary Ranking Member Lamar Smith and Representative Frank Wolf sent the Department a letter(s) demanding answers, after the Department ignored an initial Smith letter for weeks. Wolf sent a second letter directly to Holder today which strongly implies: 1. Department Officials Steven Rosenbaum (yes, him again) and Loretta King lied to him in a briefing on July 20 and in previous letters. Most notably, the Wolf letter tears apart Rosenbaum and King's excuse that the case was dismissed because one of the black panthers lived where the voting intimidation occurred. Wolf points out this...

Obama Justice Department Decision Will Allow Non-Citizens to Register to Vote in Georgia Decision Bars Georgia From Continuing Voter Verification Process Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process Atlanta - “The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections. With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification program that DOJ lawyers helped to craft. DOJ’s decision also nullifies...

For those who are intimidated by the complexity of the esoteric $59 trillion credit default swaps market (CDS), let me explain in raw layman’s terms the likely nature and significance of the Department of Justice’s antitrust inquiry into Markit, a company owned by more than a dozen Wall powerhouses including Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan (JPM): The DOJ wants to know whether Markit’s owners manipulated the company’s pricing data and index formulation to enrich themselves and screw their customers. If the Obama Administration has the conviction and political temerity to investigate and prosecute the wrongdoing the DOJ suspects, it...

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) has been under investigation for more than three years after NLPC exposed his cozy relationships with the recipients of earmarks that he sponsored. Yet, as chairman of an Appropriations subcommittee, he has jurisdiction over the budget of the Justice Department, which includes the FBI, the very entity that is investigating him. Mollohan claims he recused himself in a January 2007 letter to the full Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) but he refuses to release the letter. Republicans say they have never seen it.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is AWOL on the issue, having said nothing since she...

The Department of Homeland Security had a separate and distinct investigation of the Sheriff. The Department of Justice lawyers are alleged to have illegally called the shots in the DHS investigation and obtained through DHS requests documents which DOJ had no right to obtain. That much has already been reported here and in other news outlets. But what hasn't been reported are the details of DOJ's efforts to cover up this wrongdoing and buy the silence of Maricopa County before the details of the wrongdoing became publicly known. The Muffled Oar's sources report the truth is far worse than what...

AND JUSTICE FOR ALLAG MAKES EQUAL RIGHTS PRIORITY By AUSTIN FENNER and LEONARD GREENE Last updated: 10:08 am July 14, 2009 Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday assured the NAACP that the Justice Department was back in business, but said the law can't go as far as personal responsibility. In a speech before the nation's oldest and largest civil-rights group, Holder said the federal government would pick up a mantle he claimed was largely ignored during the Bush years. "I can proudly report the civil-rights division is back and it's open for business," Holder said at the New York Hilton, to...

Republican Congressmen want to know the answer although Democrats seem perfectly content to have a bunch of thugs physically blocking access to polling places, using racial slurs and carrying nightsticks. Perhaps since their president is trying to turn America's economy into a third world mess they believe aping banana republic electoral tactics just follows naturally. To try and find out why the Obama Justice Department dropped the case (or at least to get them on record saying it was for political purposes), a group of prominent GOP lawmakers have dispatched a letter to the DOJ Inspector General asking him to...

“The Civil Rights Division is also parachuting in its attorneys from the Coordination and Review Section (one of whose staff lawyers is a former illegal alien) to probe whether Sheriff Arpaio has engaged in ‘national origin discrimination’ against illegal aliens, including failing to provide ‘meaningful access’ to county services for ‘limited English proficient’ inmates.”

Holder: Whites and Ministers will not be protected by proposed hate crimes legislation. Attorney General Eric Holder testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 25 and gave startling testimony that means Christian ministers and whites will not be protected under the hate crimes statute proposed by the Department of Justice. Holder says that the proposed statute would only protect “traditional” victims of hate crimes, and then he goes on to name a series of Democratic Party constituencies. You can either launch the video here or click the webstream link here to see his testimony for yourself. Senator Sessions asks...

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is waiting for an answer to his June 8 letter to Attorney General Holder. And he may wait a good while longer because the Justice Department doesn’t want to explain its decision to dismiss its civil case -- the worst case of voter intimidation in many years -- and not pursue a criminal indictment. Wolf’s letter -- a copy of which appears below (click on the image for a larger version) -- asks why the Justice Department dismissed a default judgment and dropped the case against the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which Wolf’s letter...

Wichita, KS (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life group is asking the Justice Department to review several death threats it has received in the wake of the shooting of late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller. However, Operation Rescue officials say the Obama administration has not responded. The pro-life group has released the copies of audio recordings of calls it has received from abortion advocates who threatened the pro-life organization after Tiller's death.One caller says it's "time to start killing Bible-thumping morons" while another says "I hope somebody comes and kills you all" and a third caller says "One of you is going to...

"Why Is the Justice Department Cozying Up to Islamic Radicals?" SNIPPET: "PJM reports exclusively on U.S. government participation in the convention of the Islamic Society of North America — a group with known ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood." June 22, 2009 - by Jennifer Rubin Page 1 of 2 Next -> SNIPPET: "Pajamas Media has obtained a copy of the following internal email sent to Justice Department employees: Volunteers needed for unique opportunity. The civil rights division will be sponsoring an information booth at the islamic society of north america convention here at the washington convention center over...

The potential loss of tens of billions of dollars in damages is not what the Saudis fear most, should the Supreme Court allow this lawsuit to move forward. Way down in the Washington Times' article today about the Obama administration irking 9/11 families by asking the Supreme Court to deny their appeal of a ruling barring a lawsuit against Saudi princes was this gem: "A Justice Department spokesman said the administration held the meetings to hear from family members and declined to discuss details. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said that while he sympathized with the families, the State...

[L]ast week, after more delays in the process, the administration called victims of the Cole, Bali and Sept. 11 attacks together again to receive an update about the work of the Detainee Review Task Force. The meeting was emotional and heart-wrenching. Each person was given the opportunity to speak about the impact the president's decisions were having on him or her and loved ones. The brave families of our heroes showed true courage in that room. Once again, they had traveled to Washington to express their frustration at seeing justice delayed. If they were truly involved, and the administration were...

Note: The following text is a quote: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the D.C. Court of Appeals Judicial Conference Washington, D.C. Friday, June 19, 2009 Thank you Judge for your kind introduction and the warm welcome. There are too many familiar faces in this room to begin naming names, so I will just say that it is good to be among friends and neighbors. This year’s conference examines the ways in which computers, science, and the Internet impact the administration of justice, and how all of us in the law – the courts and...

As was commented upon here at CONTENTIONS, and widely reported and remarked upon elsewhere, the Obama Justice Department took the unusual action last month of dismissing a default judgment against the New Black Panther Party in connection with a case of voter intimidation on Election Day on November 4, 2008. Members of the NBPP were caught on film blocking access to the polls and physically and verbally intimidating voters, even going so far as to wield a nightstick in front of voters and poll watchers. The Justice Department’s lawyers gathered evidence, obtained the affidavit of former civil rights advocate Bartle...

Today I had the honor and privilege of joining other family members and victims of terrorism in meeting with members of the Guantanamo Review Task Force and the Detention Policy Task Force at the Department of Justice. I learned a lot about what our new President is doing and what he has the members of the task forces working on. After doing my own research and listening to the others present today I do not believe that there is a valid reason to close Guantanamo Bay. We are at WAR with TERRORISTS. OUR CONGRESS enacted the Military Commissions Act of...

Note: The following post is a quote: Statement of Eric H. Holder Jr., Attorney General of the United States, Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Washington, D.C. Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Good morning Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Sessions, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to highlight the work and priorities of the U.S. Department of Justice. I would also like to thank you for your support of the Department. I look forward to your continued support and appreciate your recognition of the Department’s mission and the important work...

McCain explicitly included the Fifth Amendment in his legislation because it addresses his target, coercive interrogation. As we’ve seen, in Dickerson, the Supreme Court held that Miranda was now considered part of the Fifth Amendment’s core. In the al-Owhali case, Judge Sand ruled that Miranda imposes daunting burdens on American agents overseas — burdens far more challenging than the rote reading of an advice-of-rights card that typically happens in domestic policing. With the Supreme Court, beginning in 2004, imposing more and more criminal-justice procedure on the battlefield, the McCain Amendment would almost certainly be used by courts or a Democratic...

In Washington today and tomorrow, the DOJ's Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT) is briefing American family members of those murdered by terrorists, as well as those injured during terrorist attacks. The stated purpose of the briefing is to: ...[offer] those interested the opportunity to meet task force members, hear an overview of task force work, and express views about the policy questions the Detention Policy Task Force is studying. Please click on the link for the Detention Policy Task Force to see some of the questions that the task force is considering. ... For those unable...

A prisoner who says he was tortured while being held for nearly four years as a suspected terrorist can sue former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo for coming up with the legal theories that justified his alleged treatment, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White's decision marks the first time a government lawyer has been held potentially responsible for the abuse of detainees. "Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," White said in refusing to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against Yoo. If Padilla, now serving...

In a surprising ruling, a federal judge has determined that convicted terrorist, Jose Padilla, can sue former Department of Justice lawyer, John Yoo, over Yoo’s legal opinion that led to Padilla being held as an enemy combatant. US District Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Northern District of California based in San Francisco, denied a Department of Justice motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Padilla’s lawyers contend that Yoo’s legal opinions allowed the US military to detain Padilla as an enemy combatant which led to Padilla being subjected to torture. As reported by local TV station KTVU: The lawsuit alleges the...

Just days ago I posted an article entitled "Justice Dept. Issues Statement to Help Advance Islam in America". Well the DOJ did not waste anytime and have filed their first pro-Islamic lawsuit since then. It is now clear that our government supports one religion and that religion is Islam!

DOJ Confirms FBI is Reading Miranda Rights to Detainees in Afghanistan Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd confirms Steve Hayes's report that the FBI is reading Miranda rights to terrorist suspects in Afghanistan: “There has been no policy change and nor blanket instruction issued for FBI agents to Mirandize detainees overseas. While there have been specific cases in which FBI agents have Mirandized suspects overseas, at both Bagram and in other situations, in order to preserve the quality of evidence obtained, there has been no overall policy change with respect to detainees.” Posted by John McCormack (The Weekly Standard with links...

Note: The following text is a quote: Fact Sheet: Prosecuting and Detaining Terror Suspects in the U.S. Criminal Justice System I. Terror Prosecutions in the Southern District of New York Since the 1990s, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has investigated and successfully prosecuted a wide range of international and domestic terrorism cases — including the bombings of the World Trade Center and U.S. Embassies in East Africa in the 1990s. More recent cases include those against individuals who provided material support to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, as well as against international arms...

ERUSALEM – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano swore in to her official advisory council the head of an Arab American organization whose officials have labeled deadly anti-U.S. jihadists as "heroes" and opposed referring to Hamas as a terrorist organization.

When Eric Holder became U.S. attorney general, he promised to administer the law in an objective, nonpolitical manner. So it's disappointing that the Justice Department had spent the last several months misinterpreting key voting rights laws for nakedly political reasons. Exhibit A: Justice's inexplicable dismissal of a civil lawsuit for voter intimidation against the New Black Panther Party. The Black Panthers weren't content to endorse Barack Obama. They sent their members to the polls last November to "patrol election sites." Fox News aired a video of two Black Panthers in military-style uniforms in a Philadelphia precinct. One of them was...

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html Justice Department Launches Investigation into Federal Crimes in Connection with the Murder of Dr. George Tiller The Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas have launched a federal investigation into federal crimes in connection with the murder of Dr. George Tiller. The federal probe will consist of a thorough review of the evidence and an assessment of any potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) or other federal statutes. The federal investigation will be conducted in close coordination with the Office of the Sedgwick County, Kan.,...

The U.S. Department of Justice seal bears a Latin phrase: "Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur." The motto refers to the attorney general, "who prosecutes on behalf of Lady Justice." But under President Barack Obama's politically corrupt DOJ, Lady Justice is getting the shaft. To wit: Let's examine the uproar over Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to protect hate-mongering thugs who harassed and bullied precinct workers and voters on Election Day in Philadelphia. Oh, wait. There's been no uproar. Let me tell you why. Two weeks ago, in a highly unusual move, Holder dismissed default judgments his department had won against...

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department called for the release of two convicted former state lawmakers in Alaska because of prosecutorial errors, in a new embarrassment for the department after it dropped charges against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. Former Alaska state Reps. Peter Kott and Victor Kohring, both Republicans, were convicted in 2007 on bribery and extortion-related charges. Mr. Kott was sentenced to six years in prison and Mr. Kohring received a 3½-year term. Attorney General Eric Holder said a review of the two cases showed that prosecutors failed to provide information that should have been disclosed to the defense....

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on June 1, as two young U.S. soldiers stood in front of the Army Navy Career Center in west Little Rock, Ark., a black pickup pulled in front of the office and the driver opened fire on the two, killing one and critically wounding the other. *snip* According to police, the suspect told the arresting officers that he had a bomb in his vehicle, but after an inspection by the police bomb squad, the only weapons police recovered from the vehicle were an SKS rifle and two pistols. *snip* Several weeks ago, STRATFOR heard from sources...

Never a dull moment with the Justice Department of Eric Holder, aka "the right man at the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years ahead." In fact, it would be more accurate to say he's the right man at the right time to protect our non-citizens in the critical years ahead. Unbelievably (or, perhaps, entirely too believably), Holder has told Georgia that it may no longer verify identification in order to ensure that voting is done only by citizens eligible to vote. The AP reports: ATLANTA — The Justice Department has rejected Georgia's system of using Social...

The Bush administration was constantly criticized for allegedly “politicizing” various Cabinet departments by overriding the actions and decisions of “career” employees for what Bush’s critics saw as purely “political” reasons. Bush’s most egregious outrages supposedly occurred at the Justice Department, where — Democratic critics charged — the president’s political appointees ran roughshod over the professional career lawyers toiling there, fired or isolated anyone who dared disagree with his perverted view of justice, and thus undermined both the morale and the credibility of American justice. Attorney General John Ashcroft was characterized as a know-nothing with little regard for the Constitution, and...

Secretary of State Karen Handel, in a statement released by her office, noted: “DOJ has thrown open the door for activist organizations such as ACORN to register non-citizens to vote in Georgia’s elections, and the state has no ability to verify an applicant’s citizenship status or whether the individual even exists. DOJ completely disregarded Georgia’s obvious and direct interest in preventing non-citizens from voting, instead siding with the ACLU and MALDEF. Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy.”

The Department of Justice on Tuesday said the state of Georgia's system cannot check driver’s license information and Social Security numbers to prove that prospective voters are U.S. citizens. Georgia’s voters have an entirely different perspective. Rasmussen Reports polling conducted during Election 2008 found that 77% said prospective voters should first be required to show a legal photo ID first. Georgia’s voters also held that view two years earlier despite a state judge’s ruling that a new law requiring a photo ID at the polls was a violation of the state constitution. Nationally, three-out-of-four U.S. voters (76%) said a person...

Obama condemns Muslim attack on Arkansas Army recruiters…not By Michelle Malkin  •  June 2, 2009 12:47 PM President Obama announced his choice for Army Secretary this afternoon.The news isn’t what he said in his statement about GOP Rep. John McHugh:“As Secretary of the Army, he will ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to meet the full spectrum of challenges and threats of our time. And John [McHugh] shares my belief that a sustainable national security strategy must include a bipartisan consensus at home, and he brings patriotism and a pragmatism that has won him respect on both sides of...

A few blog sites are starting to report DoJ's denial of Georgia's voter verification process. I don't understand how anyone with any common sense would not agree to citizenship and photo ID requirements to vote in a national election.The AJC Political Insider has more info including a pdf link to the DoJ six page letter from Loretta King, Acting Assistant, Attorney General, Civil Rights Division.more...

In arguing that the Uighurs must be kept out, the Justice Department speaks very generally about how the detainees do not qualify for entry under “the federal immigration laws.” The Supreme Court is informed that those laws are “comprehensive and reticulated,” but the DOJ is careful not to specify any of them except for Section 1182(f). That’s the statute in which Congress reposed sweeping discretionary powers in “the President” to bar “any aliens or ... class of aliens” whose entry the president believes “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” That’s fine as far as it goes....

PHOENIX - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his attorneys said in a press conference Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security have an ulterior motive in their investigation into the sheriff's office. Arpaio and his attorneys outlined their reasons for demanding an investigation into the two agencies for unethical conduct and improper political influence during the course of their investigation of Arpaio's illegal immigration enforcement policies. "After serving with the DOJ for nearly 30 years as a ranking official with the DEA, it is almost painful to have to ask for this investigation," Arpaio says. "But...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Matt Carrothers June 1, 2009 Director of Media Relations Obama Justice Department Decision Will Allow Non-Citizens to Register to Vote in Georgia Decision Bars Georgia From Continuing Voter Verification Process Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process Atlanta - “The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections. With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the...

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel issued the following statement following the U.S. Department of Justice’s denial of preclearance of Georgia’s voter verification process http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/01/georgia-non-citizens-registering-to-vote/

Washington, DC - In light of a Washington Times report today that political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice forced career prosecutors to drop and/or reduce charges against men observed intimidating Philadelphia voters last election day, Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie is calling for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate this alleged obstruction of the Voting Rights Act by the Obama Administration.

Of course, it's one thing to say that they are not enemy combatants and should therefore be released. It is quite another thing, though, to say that they should be released into the United States (which, because of their terrorist affiliations, would violate federal immigration law). But as Cliff noted earlier today, alluding to the stellar work of Tom Joscelyn at the Standard, federal judge Richard Urbina did try to order their release into the U.S. (Here at NRO, the editors weighed in on Judge Urbina's absurd decision, here.) Fortunately, in a well reasoned decision authored by Judge Raymond Randolph...