Federal Government

Supreme Court Accepts Whale Sonar Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a case that considers the Navy’s use of sonar in training exercises, opposed by environmental groups who contend it harms endangered whales. Solicitor General Paul Clement had argued a federal appeals court ruling in the case “poses substantial harm to national security,” SCOTUSblog reports.…

Jun 23, 2008 2:23 PM CDT

Lawyers Warned White House that Courts Would Overturn Gitmo Policies

The administration rejected advice from the solicitor general and other lawyers that its Guantanamo policies would be overturned by the federal courts. In an e-mail, top State Department lawyer John Bellinger III told the White House that its system of detention of terrorism suspects wouldn’t survive without a broad congressional…

Jun 23, 2008 10:44 AM CDT

Gonzales Axed Anti-Torture DOJ Lawyer, But Promised US Attorney Job, ABC Says

In Congressional testimony that helps connect two controversial legal issues in the Bush administration, a former high-level Justice Department lawyer says he was asked to leave after he wrote a memo opposing harsh interrogation techniques he considered torture but was promised a job as a U.S. Attorney by former Attorney…

Jun 19, 2008 11:16 PM CDT

Mexico Asks World Court to Halt Five U.S. Executions

Mexico asked the World Court today to issue a stay to halt the executions of five of its citizens in the United States. Mexico contends the five prisoners were not allowed to consult with consular officials in violation of their rights under an international treaty, the Vienna Convention. The United…

Jun 19, 2008 1:53 PM CDT

Ex-Pentagon Lawyer Says He Researched ‘Real Manchurian Candidate Stuff’

A former Pentagon lawyer scheduled to testify today before the Senate Armed Forces Committee told the New York Times he researched psychological studies about the effects of interrogation after his superiors expressed frustration about Guantanamo detainees withholding information. The lawyer, Richard Schiffrin, said the information he obtained included studies of…

Jun 17, 2008 2:38 PM CDT

House Panel Subpoenas Mukasey for Interviews in CIA Leak Probe

A House committee has subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey for FBI reports of interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the probe into the leak of a CIA agent’s identity. The Department of Justice had rejected a request for the documents earlier this month on the basis…

Jun 17, 2008 10:38 AM CDT

White House Admin Office E-Mails Not Covered By FOIA, Federal Judge Says

Although the White House Office of Administration has for decades considered itself subject to the Freedom of Information Act, in fact FOIA doesn’t apply to White House e-mails held there because the office isn’t an agency under the statute, a federal judge said today. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly reached…

Jun 16, 2008 9:15 PM CDT

Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Immunity of Former Attorney General

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether former Attorney General John Ashcroft and other past government officials have immunity from a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination against Sept. 11 detainees, SCOTUSblog reports. The suit by Pakistan citizen Javaid Iqbal claims he was discriminated against on the basis of religion…

Jun 16, 2008 2:39 PM CDT

Claimed China Hack Attack Targets: US Gov’t, Business and Utilities

After news that China may have secretly copied information in the U.S. commerce secretary’s laptop last year, a Congressman says that’s far from the only intrusion for which computer hackers there may be responsible. China also seems to have been hacking into computers in Congressional offices, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)…

Jun 11, 2008 7:19 PM CDT

Most Gitmo Prisoners at Psychological Risk, Report Says

Held under conditions even more stringent than those in “supermax” prisons in the U.S., many detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba are at least at risk of psychological breakdown, a human rights group reports. Of 270 prisoners at Gitmo, 185 are held in solitary confinement for 22…

Jun 10, 2008 4:00 PM CDT

20 Ex-Prosecutors Back House in Suit Seeking to Enforce Firings Subpoenas

A group of 20 former U.S. attorneys has filed an amicus brief supporting the House of Representatives in its lawsuit seeking to enforce subpoenas in its probe into the firings of nine federal prosecutors. President Bush has cited executive privilege to protect chief of staff Joshua Bolten and ex-White House…

Jun 2, 2008 5:01 PM CDT

Logjam

Politicians can’t agree who should fill vacancies on the nation’s most reliably conservative appellate court. If the logjam lasts past November, the court may take a turn to the left.

Jun 1, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

Did China Copy U.S. Commerce Secretary’s Laptop Computer?

A U.S. investigation is under way to determine whether China secretly copied a top American official’s government laptop computer during a trip late last year, subsequently using the information in attempts to hack into Commerce Department computers. “Surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop was left unattended…

May 30, 2008 12:34 AM CDT

Our Client: Osama bin Laden’s Ex-Driver—and the Rule of Law

A 2004 telephone call from a law professor and a military lawyer in 2004 led to a startling shift in practice for two Seattle business litigators at Perkins Coie. Soon Harry Schneider, 54, and Joe McMillan, 48, were representing a terrorism suspect in an extremely high-profile case that has already…

May 27, 2008 3:01 PM CDT

DOJ Memo Said FISA’s ‘Exclusive’ Provisions Didn’t Always Apply

A sentence in a Justice Department memo helps explain how the administration justified domestic wiretaps of overseas terrorism suspects despite a law establishing a special court to hear surveillance requests. Two senators criticized the legal interpretation in a Washington Post story that examines the memo’s legal argument. The sentence was…

May 23, 2008 10:36 AM CDT