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The chief judge of the District’s federal court issued an unusual order Wednesday, apologizing to the public and the media for not making certain court documents widely available online. The gesture of transparency by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth comes at a time when the Obama administration is under scrutiny for an unprecedented number of leak investigations, including one showing that the Justice Department had secretly probed the news-gathering activities of Fox News reporter James Rosen. The investigation of Rosen was first reported Monday, after The Washington

**SNIP** “I will not bore you with his history as a congressman. You, I am sure, have received more information about his tenure than I have.” “Therefore I will reduce my letter to this statement. Please let mercy temper justice.” Butler directed his comments to the wrong judge, however. His letter is addressed to Judge Robert Wilkins, who is no longer assigned to the case. Judge Amy Berman Jackson received the case through a random reassignment April 16. Jackson is to be sentenced July 1.

THE BRONX, NYC, NY -- After a year of public outrage and legal proceedings, a judge has simply thrown out the indictment of Officer Richard Haste, who gunned down an unarmed man inside his own home, without a warrant. Haste was facing manslaughter charges until the judge tossed the indictment. https://www.facebook.com/PoliceStateUSA In February 2012, police broke into the home of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham without a warrant, did not announce themselves as police, shoved guns in the faces of the residents and ultimately gunned down Graham for no reason.

Several of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s (D-Ill.) constituents are asking a federal judge to show him no mercy when he hands down his sentence. The charges of using campaign funds for personal use, which Jackson has pleaded guilty to, are worse than murder, Chicago resident Gregory Ritter said in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Wilkins. “[M]urder would be a lighter crime, as these defendants have used the political hopes and dreams of the constituents as a blank check for deceit,” Ritter wrote. “The crimes of this magnitude are not like a traffic ticket. “While the...

ICE Agent Crane to Obama: "Mr. President, you've overstepped your boundaries. It's your job to enforce the law, it's Congress' job to enact the law."- Last week, ICE union chief Chris Crane won a stunning initial court victory in his lawsuit against the Obama Administration. As we reported, Federal Judge Federal Judge Reed O’Connor told the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that they had no power to refuse to deport illegal aliens, and that he was likely to strike down Obama’s virtual “DACA” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. The ruling stunned Washington, and Crane’s lawsuit could derail Obama’s four-year...

Judge Jeanine Pirro answers the public statements of Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, mother of the two Boston terrorists. Answering the questions, "Why didn't you send him to Guantanamo or whatever? Why did they have to kill him?" Pirro says this is an admission of knowledge that her dead son was a terrorist. Pirro also takes the Obama administration to task for sending a federal judge to read her surviving son his rights and ending an FBI interrogation. And she asks about Gov. Deval Patrick's decision to not "reveal what kind of taxpayer assistance Tamerlan got on grounds of privacy." "Privacy? What privacy?...

Regular viewers of Fox News are used to seeing popular host Megyn Kelly on their televisions every afternoon, but on Thursday morning Kelly made a special appearance during the morning to break some surprising information: according to her sources, the FBI was “shocked” to see a magistrate “waltz into” the hospital room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and read him his Miranda rights. So why were they shocked? According to Kelly, the FBI was under the understanding that they would get much more time with Tsarnaev under the “public safety exemption” before he was read his rights. Adding to the shock: the...

Regular viewers of Fox News are used to seeing popular host Megyn Kelly on their televisions every afternoon, but on Thursday morning Kelly made a special appearance during the morning to break some surprising information: according to her sources, the FBI was “shocked” to see a magistrate “waltz into” the hospital room of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and read him his Miranda rights. So why were they shocked? According to Kelly, the FBI was under the understanding that they would get much more time with Tsarnaev under the “public safety exemption” before he was read his rights. Adding to the shock: the...

Thanks to the "Public Safety Exception" to Miranda (which was created in 1980), the government is not forced to choose between treating a suspect as an enemy combatant or immediately allowing said suspect to hide behind an attorney and the right to remain silent. In extraordinary circumstances, when a suspect is believed to be part of a broader conspiracy that might result in the loss of innocent life, authorities have 48 hours to question the suspect before mirandizing him. Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the man suspected of being a co-conspirator in the Boston Marathon bombings, was mirandized after only 16 hours of...

A federal judge gave a skeptical reception Wednesday to the Obama administration’s arguments that the courts should stay out of the dispute over the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over some Operation Fast and Furious-related documents to a House committee. Last June, the fight led President Barack Obama to assert executive privilege over the records of the controversial gun trafficking investigation, and to House votes finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson spent most of an hour-and-a-half hearing Wednesday

WASHINGTON — The felony cases of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, have been assigned to a new judge — named Jackson. Court papers filed Tuesday moved the cases to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, but did not explain why the judge who accepted the Jacksons' guilty pleas, Robert Wilkins, would not be the one to sentence them this summer. Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree Jr., who recently joined Jesse Jackson Jr.'s legal team, told the Tribune that Wilkins is a former law student whom he knows well, and that Wilkins may...

(CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Disgraced former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. made his first public appearance in months when he sat alongside his father at Saturday morning's gathering of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. While Jackson Jr. did not speak, his attorney called on those gathered to call the judge in his case and plead for leniency before his June sentencing for misusing campaign funds. **SNIP** "Our judge needs to know, needs to understand, the character and the qualities of this extraordinary congressman," attorney C.K. Hoffler said. "This is the time to let the judge know how important he is to you." **SNIP**...

Happy ending. Judge Judy - Grown up man cries. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI4UEojhT2Y

Judge Andrew Napolitano was on with Neil Cavuto today to discuss Barack Obama’s domestic drone policy. Napolitano says Obama’s policy of using drones to kill Americans without a trial is “Stalinistic.” “The Constitution couldn’t be clearer. If the government wants the life, the liberty or the property of a person, they have to do it through due process, which means a jury trial. They can’t just execute. That’s Stalinistic.“ Napolitano also said if Bush would have had this policy Barack Obama would have been the first one to criticize it… Because he did. Via Your World:

February 5, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- In Chicago, Judge Cynthia Brim wants to return to the bench. The Cook County judge was found not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with a shoving incident a involving a sheriff's deputy. Five times in the last 19 years, Cynthia Brim was hospitalized for treatment of a bipolar-related mental illness, including one instance in which paramedics had to remove her from her Markham courtroom. It's unclear to what extent her superiors were aware of her mental health needs. The altercation took place at the Daley Center last year, and shortly after that...

Between now and when she's sentenced for bank fraud, former state Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway will have an income thanks to her first pension check from the state of Michigan scheduled to arrive in February. Hathaway, 58, pleaded guilty to bank fraud on Tuesday for concealing assets, including a home in Florida, while claiming financial hardship in a Michigan real estate deal. The financial hardship claim allowed her to use a short sale to unload a Michigan house at a price below what she and her husband owed on it. Reportedly it wiped out a $600,000 debt. May 28...

Miami Judge Smacks Down Teen After She Gave Him The Finger In Court Abby RogersFebruary 6,2013 NewsRoss/YouTube A Miami teen's bad attitude got her 30 days behind bars after the judge decided he wasn't going to put up with it. Penelope Soto, 18, was in Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat's bond court Monday on charges of possessing Xanax, Local 10 reported Monday. Rodriguez-Chomat was prepared to let her off on a $5,000 bond when the giggling girl made the mistake of sarcastically saying "Adios" before flitting away from the bench, NBC Miami reported Tuesday. But the judge wasn't having her sarcastic attitude...

Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway faces a federal criminal charge and could end up in prison for up to 33 months. Nevertheless, it appears that Hathaway can still expect to get a hefty state pension. It's been estimated that Hathaway's annual state pension would come to $98,766. In fact, this could be a conservative estimate. It was based on calculation information posted on the Office of Retirement Services website and general information about her 20-year career in the court system. So would Hathaway's pension eligibility change if she pleads or is found guilty? "Only if the court ordered...

A federal court delivered a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel agenda, ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which isn’t commercially available. The court sided with the country’s chief oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, in striking down the 2012 EPA mandate that would have forced refineries to purchase more than $8 million in credits for 8.65 million of gallons of the cellulosic biofuel. However, none of the biofuel is commercially available. “[W]e agree with API that EPA’s 2012 projection of cellulosic biofuel production was in excess of...

You're watching... Judge Jeanine calls out 'The Journal News' Pirro: Time for paper to 'face the music' for publishing gun permit map Duration4:44 DateJan 6, 2013