Federal Government

Kmiec Resigns as Ambassador to Malta After Criticism Over His Advocacy Work

Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec has resigned as the American ambassador to Malta after the State Department’s inspector general criticized his work promoting better relations between religions. In letters to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kmiec, a well-known conservative constitutional lawyer, objected to the inspector general’s…

Apr 18, 2011 5:05 PM CDT

TARP Watchdog Questions Vague Billings by Venable, Other BigLaw Firms

An audit report by the acting inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program has questioned billings by Venable and other law firms, saying that they are often vague and inadequate. “Venable submitted” and the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Stability “paid without questioning, fee bills that contained block billing,…

Apr 14, 2011 12:40 PM CDT

Federal Regulators, 14 Large Lenders Agree to Settlement re Mishandled Mortgage Foreclosures

Federal regulators and more than a dozen of the nation’s biggest mortgage servicers announced yesterday that they have reached a settlement over what reportedly have been widespread shoddy practices related to mortgage foreclosures. The lenders, which include some of the country’s biggest banks, will pay restitution to homeowners for the…

Apr 14, 2011 11:24 AM CDT

Pentagon GC Regrets Seminole / Al-Qaida Analogy in Guantanamo Sentence

The Seminole Tribe of Florida recently received a letter from Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson, stating that he regretted his staff likening 1800s history involving the Native American group to al-Qaida in a recent Guantanamo war court filing. The brief in question defended the life sentence of Yemeni Ali Hamza…

Apr 11, 2011 7:48 PM CDT

Lincoln’s War Powers: Part Constitution, Part Trust

Abraham Lincoln’s presidency was in crisis from the very start. By the time he was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states already had seceded. And with the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln faced a rebellion “too powerful to be…

Apr 1, 2011 9:33 AM CDT

The ABA Adjusts Its Lobbying Efforts to Suit a New Climate on Capitol Hill

It did not take long for the seismic impact of the November elections to be felt throughout the federal government and in the public sector, as many programs supported by the ABA and other organizations are now finding themselves under siege. While the Obama administration and members of both political…

Apr 1, 2011 5:40 AM CDT

Bomb Detonated, Man Arrested After Abandoned Tool Bag Sat for Weeks at Detroit Federal Building

When an FBI agent found an abandoned tool bag containing a metal cash box outside the McNamara Federal building in Detroit on Feb. 26, he turned it over to a security guard. It wasn’t X-rayed or scanned until March 18, after which the Detroit Bomb Squad was called in to…

Mar 24, 2011 10:27 PM CDT

President Obama Lifts Ban on Gitmo Trials, Says New Safeguards Are In Place

President Barack Obama still intends to close the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But in the meantime, he has eliminated a ban he imposed nearly two years ago on conducting military trials of detainees held at the facility. His executive order today apparently anticipates that military tribunals…

Mar 7, 2011 9:59 PM CST

Citing 4-Year Vacancy, Chief Federal Judge in RI Sends Cases to Other States, Upsetting Some Parties

In a highly unusual move, the chief federal district judge in Rhode Island has sent some two dozen cases to colleagues in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She and another judge have struggled for four years to keep up with the load as a third seat on the bench sat vacant…

Mar 7, 2011 6:40 PM CST

Novel New Indictment Hits Loughner with 49 Counts, Including Murder Charge re Chief Judge Roll

A federal grand jury in Arizona has issued a sweeping new superseding indictment against suspect Jared Lee Loughner, who is accused in a January supermarket parking lot shooting rampage in Tucson. It left six dead, including Chief U.S. District Judge John Roll, and more than a dozen injured, including U.S.…

Mar 4, 2011 8:00 PM CST

Ex-CIA Station Chief in Algeria Gets 5.5 Years for Sex Abuse of Unconscious Woman

Adding nearly two years to the sentence recommended by prosecutors, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., today sentenced a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Algeria to 5 and a half years in prison for sexually abusing an unconscious woman, among other conduct at issue in the case. Andrew…

Mar 3, 2011 11:32 PM CST

Despite Obama Decision to Reject DOMA, Feds Will Still Fight Lawyer’s Same-Sex Benefits Case

Following news last week that President Barack Obama had decided the Defense of Marriage Act is an unconstitutional violation of equal protection comes news this week that the revised policy may be narrower than some onlookers had initially thought. Although the Department of Justice is reportedly reversing its previous position…

Mar 2, 2011 1:25 AM CST

Secret Tapes Reveal President Johnson’s Plans for Thurgood Marshall

President Lyndon Johnson’s plans to groom Thurgood Marshall for the U.S. Supreme Court are revealed in once-secret secret recordings and tape transcripts that have been released to CNN. Johnson’s plan was to appoint Marshall as solicitor general, where he would get the experience that would make him one of the…

Feb 25, 2011 1:23 PM CST

‘Lone Wolf’ Saudi, Studying in Texas, Is Charged in Alleged Explosives Plot

When a Saudi man studying chemical engineering in Texas allegedly ordered certain items that can be used to make explosives, workers at two different suppliers became suspicious. Both notified authorities on Feb. 1. Today the U.S. Department of Justice announced a criminal case against the college student, Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari,…

Feb 25, 2011 2:12 AM CST

Obama Concludes Federal Law Banning Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage Is Unconstitutional

President Obama has concluded that the federal law barring recognition of same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, and has decided the administration will no longer defend the statute in court. Attorney General Eric Holder explained the president’s decision in a statement released today, according to the Washington Post and Metro Weekly’s Poliglot…

Feb 23, 2011 5:44 PM CST